Exodus of The Mind And Soul
by spongecake 2
Summary: Asuka Kazama is not one to associate with his kind, but Morris Wellington, a drunk idiot with an fierce libido and brilliant fighting skills, offers to help her defeat Jin at the new King of Iron Fist, only to have his dark past come knocking on his door.
1. Prologue and Night

**Hey ho, again. Well, due to an illness induced complete lack of ideas, I've actually taken somebody else's advice and decided that this little fic of mine needed a little love… So, instead, I opted to mercilessly stamp it, bulldoze it, purge it with fire and salt, hammer it, nuke it and tell everyone that it was homosexual on the Annual Homophobic Father and Son Picnic where the Fathers and Sons where only admitted once they had been armed with AK-47s and presented a document showing that they were criminally insane, probably hosted in Alabama by the sounds of it… obduracy**

… **or, in words any sensible person would use, we've got a rewrite on our hands, people. Yes, of my first story, no less. Sounds better than it is, doesn't it.**

**Ideas for a rewrite sprouted from a review by Razer. Do thank her, though, considering the apocalyptic nightmare that has been resurrected, you might want to _blame_ her. Oh well, she's a better writer than I'll EVER be, so she must of thought _something_ was good about it. Though considering how bad it was, what it was that was good at all is hidden better than a sober guy at Glastonbury Festival.**

**Oooh, spongecake hates his stories, this is new… well, I'm not kidding. Even by my standards, this was dribble. So, really, all I'm doing here is adding more dribble into the mix hoping to make a cake… how delightful… the main reason this was so bad was that I went in with nothing. I just made a character and said 'Go'. However, he was apparently a good character, so I thought, "Hey, give him another whirl."**

**This follows on from Tekken 6. I may not have played the game, but I know loosely enough about the plot to make some form of story. I don't own Namco, Tekken, or indeed much else. I own Morris, but that's not really a thing to be proud of.**

**Picture of Morris: ****.**** So anyone who can draw better than me (i.e. EVERYONE) send your own pictures, please.**

* * *

**Prologue**

Heihachi Mishima was pretty much in hysterics for the duration for the sixth King of Iron Fist Tournament. Last time he had lost his company to a descendant of his, he was worried. Kazuya was driven, and fuelled by a force completely unknown to Heihachi. Kazuya had a girlfriend to support and an empire as a prize after the atrocity that was his childhood. He had every reason to fight to keep it out of his father's hands. Heihachi pushed himself to the brink of death to win, and win he did, but only just.

Jin, on the other hand, and to both Heihachi's and his own eternal surprise, was a pushover. They had clashed before, and it ended badly for Heihachi, nearly being killed by Jin's own devil force. However, underneath the mass slaughters and supposed want to take over the world, Jin was fighting for nothing. He had no goal, no purpose. World domination was something he did between spending money and laughing like the child he truly was, with the world his GI Joe figure set, and there was nothing on TV at the moment. The tournament was a game to him, and as such, he treated it as one, defeating all in his path lazily. When he met Heihachi, he met a man who had risen from the ashes before, and by gall he was going to do it again. As such, the world watched in a mixed astonishment and slight relief as the seemingly unbeatable Jin Kazama was absolutely hammered by a senile old fool with few years left in him. Supporters of Jin claimed this would prove how weak his opponents were, that only Heihachi Mishima could beat Jin in the end, but the idea never really caught on.

The reason that Heihachi won was not one of superiority as he liked to claim, but rather stubbornness and a childish demand for everything that was his back. After all, it was still _**his**_ company by right, so why couldn't he have it back? Heihachi looked upon the Zaibatsu that was at last his once again, and he sneered. Raising armies, he had snorted. Why make guns to simply use them? Where were the buyers from America, China, the Middle East, African dictators and any other corner of the globe you'd care to mention? Where was the smuggling? Where was the profit? No wonder Jin lost, he thought. Sure, his company had all the cards, but they were playing by themselves, getting no money. Jin hadn't even hung around to collect some money. He just vanished, it seemed. He'll be back, Heihachi thought. And he'll beg for forgiveness. And no one will give it to him, especially not me.

Heihachi thought about the power he had and simply said: "Fuck all that! Money's real power!" Nobody was sure whether to be relieved or panicked when Heihachi disbanded the company's status as an independent country and went straight into arms sales. For one, no more war, but, then again, that's a lot of guns and bombs to sell, and the next Jin Kazama could already be in charge of a superpower, and how bad would that be, a _**real**_ country dealing out that sort of damage. Tension was even higher than before the war. At least the world knew who the enemy was when Kazama was CEO of the Zaibatsu. Now, the enemy could be the person next to you. This, however, just created the desire to buy weapons for your own protection, and Heihachi simply got richer by the billions.

With money comes boredom. Heihachi had so much money; he didn't know what to do with it. He started wasting it on anything and everything. He funded bogus inventions, such as the waterproof sponge or glow-in-the-dark sunglasses. He gave it to refugees, and then gave those very people jobs at his overseas weapons factories. Wages became so high, even the lowliest forklift driver forgot when the last time was that he had actually decorated his apartment himself, and hadn't gotten the maid to do it. Heihachi converted a sniper rifle for the purpose of firing wads of money at people in the street for fun. He had competitions such as 'How Far Can You Throw A Billion?' and 'Money In A Microwave'. He even stamped his face onto the moon. His spending became ridiculous, just for the sake of not having too much money that it loses value. And then he thought of something.

Becoming the richest man in the entire world in a mere four months wasn't without its problems. How many people had looked jealously at him, desperate to find something to challenge him, hoping to scrap a bit of the gold off the sides of the treasure chest? Though, they all turned to the same person, and that same person pretended to care for these people, but Heihachi knew better. Kazuya was not the sort of person to care. The last person he had cared about was twenty one years dead and buried. And this wasn't any old corporate opponent Heihachi had simply brushed away with a bribe and a visit from his Tekken Force. This was Kazuya. This was proof that Heihachi hadn't completely succeeded back at that day, twenty one years ago to this day. Heihachi still yearned for the power that money couldn't provide. For that raw rush from Ogre, dripping through his fingers. And if he could harness it… well, the money would be spilled, more so than the blood, in this new tournament. As far as anyone else was concerned, Heihachi and Kazuya were simply having a big money spill, just throwing money to anyone. But, however, it went deeper. It was pride. It was power. It was obduracy. More than anything, it was to remind each other who was the stronger of the two.

All the above, however, simply made no difference to the completely oblivious Ling Xiaoyu, a girl so thick that she is still determined in her thought train that Jin's a decent guy after he went kill crazy and basically bombed anyone who looked at him funnily. For all she knew, the father and son could be fighting over possession of a cupcake on Pluto. Heihachi, at one point, cared about her well being, if only because she would give him yet another reason to want to get out of the house, but now, he simply threw his arms up and simply said "Really, I don't care. Get killed, see if I weep." If only he hadn't have given her the idea of getting killed as she prepared for yet another try at the King of Iron Fist Tournament. Against her usual tradition of losing in the first round to a newcomer (first year was Eddy, next year her best friend Miharu, plus she hadn't even got a hit on Asuka, one of the few people younger than her in the tournament, when she participated for the fifth) she did extremely well, even going so far as beating the tournament favourite Zafina. Only Paul had finally stopped her, and even then by mere luck. So she was confident…

… until, however, two weeks before the tournament's beginning. She had gotten a phone call from a veterinarian in Osaka to tell her of the accident that had shaken and pounded Panda within a thread of her life. Charred, scarred near dead, Panda was fading when Xiaoyu got to her, and the man responsible, despite bringing the panda in, had simply left, reluctantly taking the bill with him. Treatment would weigh down on her finances. However, this didn't hinder Xiaoyu, but rather gave her another and, as other people would say, better reason to enter than just following some high school crush. She decided to wait for the evil, sadistic maniac who had done this, and allow fate to pull them together for a fight.

However, fate could've been kicked out of the door and sent to get the takeaway while everyone else solved their differences themselves if she had merely walked four blocks away, following her consulting friend Asuka, who visited when she heard her friend from the tournament was in town. Though it was chance that brought Asuka into Xiaoyu's new accidental-prone self-proclaimed nemesis when she was in a fit of hysterics that could charitably called an immature expression of anger and uncharitably called a bloody childish Ribena-fuelled tantrum, chance has a weird way of forcing certain things to happen…

* * *

**Chapter 1 - Night**

The rain fell from the murky night sky lightly, making a patter upon the many metal pipes of Osaka's dark sub alleys. Asuka studied these sounds with some contemplation before advancing further into the alleyway at a slow pace. Her short brown hair brushed her face lightly as the wind picked up. Her hakama was slightly stained with mud from the floor. She was brooding over what had happened during the sixth King of Iron Fist Tournament. She had entered to defeat her long lost cousin, Jin, who had started wars worldwide and just as she got close, oh so close, an old man simply brushed her out the way with neither a thought nor a tip of the hat. To gall her all the more, Jin was his opponent in the next round, and was absolutely hammered by said old man. Asuka angrily kicked a lead pipe, remembering her defeat, when she suddenly heard a sound that made her stop in her tracks. Having learnt her Kazama Style Self Defence in her father's dojo, and entering the tournament twice, she knew all too well the sound of a clenched fist coming into contact with a face. It sounded like it hurt too. She ran over to the source of the sound, stopping just as she reached the corner. She listened intently.

"What the bloody hellfire was that for?" Came a loud and rough voice. It was English, a language Asuka hadn't heard since she had met Steve Fox, a British boxer and fellow competitor in the King of Iron Fist Tournament. She listened in as she turned her head into a point where she could view the scene.

It didn't look good. The assumed assailants had the victim surrounded and outnumbered ridiculously. Asuka was well known in the area for taking on a large number of opponents at once, but she knew that twenty against one were not good odds. Especially when they all brandished hand-to-hand weaponry. A gun or something could be used to the victim's advantage, as any long range weaponry would simply cause more damage to friend than foe. However, they didn't, making the situation a fighter's worst nightmare.

"You hurt a panda…" One of the group said, Japanese dialect adding to the sting of his words. He stepped forward. Asuka got a good look at his face. Strong cheek bones, young, arrogant. Your average jock from school. In fact, Asuka was sure she had recognised him from somewhere. However, the words of hurting a panda were a giveaway. He was a school friend of Xiaoyu's. Xiaoyu, despite Asuka being frequently annoyed by her, was popular in school, and a lot of close friends arrived to say hi. And clearly, their opponent was Panda's attacker. Suddenly, Asuka didn't quite mind so much that he was about to that the crap beaten out of him.

"Pardon?" Came the English voice. Asuka tried to get a good look of him, though his face and body was shrouded in darkness. If only she could say the same about the stench. The air was heavy with whiskey, rum and all brews of the Devil. This guy was drunk out of his mind, and clearly didn't have a clue what was going on.

"The panda's owner was very hurt by the event. And you didn't pay the bill, despite drinking enough alcohol to keep us all going all night." Another from the group said. They started to close in. Finally, two bright blue eyes peered out to the group. Asuka saw the whites of the eyes. They held surprise, and confusion, and finally anger.

"I don't know what the hell you just said, but if you want a fight, you've got one." The English voice came again. Asuka gulped. The voice was harder now. Sober. This guy knew that something was coming, though he clearly thought these guys were simply punks. Too confident for a real fighter. Asuka almost felt a pang of pity. And then he stepped out the shadows, and Asuka moaned. This guy had no hope in hell.

The reason for this thought was his build, though the fact that he looked only just twenty also swayed the odds against him. His head was certainly full, though the eyes were viciously sunken in, and the face was youthful but weather beaten, with a muzzle ridden double chin and small, scared nose. His body, though, was skeletal, with bones showing through his clothes. His hands were misshapen claws, with bizarre, inhuman points on the end. His expression was on of anger, his face creased with battle scars. His hair was simply stuck to his head, in spikes, like moss on a rock. And the clothes weren't those of any normal, well-lived person. Everything was second hand, the jacket from a suit and trousers from a convict uniform. He even had a cape of forms, which was in fact some pattern less blue curtains. The only thing which looked genuine was his tie. His crimson tie. A sandwich hung lazily in one hand. He staggered slightly, drunk and weakened, as if he couldn't hold up his own weight. He threw one bony finger out, and he spoke simply.

"You're making a mistake here." He said, though he slurred slightly more. As if to correct him, the first student rushed towards him. Asuka flinched, closed her eyes and waited for the sound of shattered bone. The sound came, but when she looked, her stomach did a somersault.

"Can't be. My eyes are wrong" Said her brain. It was an impossible sight. The small bony man, half the size of the attacker, had simply suspended the attacker on one large boot. He spun once, sending the attacker into the ground. His face which once held anger now was home to a terribly smug grin.

"Who's next, then?" He shouted. The others closed in slowly. "Ahh shit." He muttered under his breath. The one who had talked, presumably the leader, ran over and punched for the face with his right hand. The drunk simply moved away gracefully, leaning back and rolling onto his hands. The handstand he balanced himself would require a lot of concentration for Asuka to achieve, and she watched in astonishment as somebody who was drunk out of his mind walked forth on his hands, his feet drumming into the jock's face. He rolled back onto his feet, punching the now ferociously bruised guy away.

"Drink break." He said to himself. He reached into his trousers. Asuka bit her lip so she didn't vomit when he pulled a whiskey flask out of god-knows-where. She sincerely hoped it was outside the underwear, though something told her otherwise. He unscrewed the lid as the other attackers stepped forward, though they seemed cautious now. The twenty year old in the middle suddenly looked far more threatening, confident enough to stop halfway through a fight. The attackers unconsciously decided to keep their distance and wait for his next move.

One couldn't take the pressure. The drunk was subject to a wooden board to the head. From the thump it generated, Asuka expected the drunk to fall. However, splinters simply fell out of the man's hair as he went for a body blow, drumming the ribs of the offending attacker. Then, upon curling the arm around the neck of his foe, he threw himself to the floor, flipping the offender over. More charged forth.

"Not today." The defending fighter threw himself into two of the attackers, bursting through a gap and kicking as he was airborne. The two screamed in agony, as did the one the drunk landed on. Taking the advantage, the drunk rolled onto the foe, balancing on the shoulders.

"Hop de hop." He muttered, leaping onto the unsuspecting head of yet another foe. Using his attackers as stepping stones, he leapt to the end of the alleyway opposite to Asuka, landing on his feet. He spread his arms out, Olympic athlete style, and turned on his heels, then fell back into his stance.

Asuka decided not to take sitting back anymore. She couldn't. She stood out into full view, though only a few noticed her. The drunk glanced at her, though paid her no attention. Others seemed to recognise her, but even more simply didn't even consider looking. The drunk then looked back to her. Their eyes met. He smirked dangerously, a plan formulating in his head. He looked to her far more deliberately now.

"Hey! What's your problem?" He shouted to her. The others turned their heads now. Asuka took a step back. If things got violent, she'd be on her own. Hopefully, they'd tell her to go away and end it with that. All attention was on her. One person of the group simply gestured for her to leave, and turned back. Only to find that the drunk had gone.

"Where'd he go?" He shouted. His friends took notice. He had indeed gone. One had the idea to ask Asuka of his whereabouts. She simply pointed in the direction in front of her. The group ran off, quickly thanking her and leaving. She looked to the shadows, giving her hardest glare as the blond haired twenty-something emerged. He didn't reply or acknowledge the glare.

"Thanks." He murmured. He looked to where they went. "What'd they want?" He asked himself. Then he felt a rush of wind drift away from him. That only ever meant one thing. He threw his back fist at her, contacting and stopping the fist mere millimetres from his head. He gulped, taken aback by this attack.

"That was fast." He muttered. He tried a roundhouse kick, which Asuka rolled under, before grabbing his arm and dragging him onto the ground. He rolled over into himself as Asuka pinned the arm.

"So am I." She said. The drunk twisted himself into a ball. Asuka thought he was being cowardly and defensive, before she noticed his arms wrapped around her own, and the playful, if annoyed, grin that befell his face.

"Oh crap." She murmured, before being pulled into the drunk. Her face looked up to the sky as the drunk's fist hammered the chin from beneath, spreading pain all across her face. He put his legs over her own and locked out her arms. He then pulled out with his limbs. Asuka screamed in pain, and was then released with aching joints. She was sent spinning on the foot. She met fist and fist, falling to her buttocks, the gravel stinging. She was amazed. It usually took most people a good minute or so of vigorous fighting to so much as tire her, and right now she was panting, broken and stopped right in her tracks. It was Heihachi all over again. He smiled nastily, his sunken in eyes shining in victory, and a hint of pity.

"Somebody who speaks English. Where've you been all this time?" He bent down, extending his hand. Asuka grabbed it gently, and then squeezed. The drunk's eyes widened as she pulled his entire body scraping on the tarmac around her. "You know, all this might make sense if somebody explained something to me. Otherwise all this will amount to is pointless bickering."

"Shut up!" Asuka said, forcing her grip down." Up close, the stench of alcohol almost choked her. "Why did you hurt that panda two days ago?" She asked angrily.

"What, that huge lump!" The drunk laughed. It was harsh and forced. "Should be bloody thanking me! I saved the bloody mutt's life, I'll have you know!" Asuka was taken aback.

"Wait, what?" She said. She scanned the man over. This was not saviour material. He coughed up some phlegm and laughed even more.

"It got plunged into the pizza oven after an accident with a bun trolley and a set of fine china plates. Who pulled it out? Who took it to the vets when no one else would? And who got landed with the bill and beaten up as a result? Ol' Morris here." The drunk complained. Asuka took in his words. She stared at him. God, she hated him. Drunk as a skunk and arrogant as hell… but… well, saving a life is saving a life. And, despite the throbbing in her face and her whole body begging to collapse in submission, she loosened her grip, letting Morris go.

"Sorry." She said, trying to sound sincere. "I didn't know…"

"Ahh, fuck it." Morris said, looking to his bleeding, grazed palms. "I've had worse." She looked to his face, and, in closer detail, she believed him. Scratches and scars riddled the skin like a mask. He looked to Asuka. "I take it you're the owner?"

"No, no." Asuka hurriedly answered. Being compared to Xiaoyu was a pretty big insult, and Asuka didn't need to be offended. "A friend of hers, and that's it." Morris looked to a piece of gravel, and scratched a vague symbol into the ground, sighing slightly to himself.

"Look…" He said, sounding oddly sincere. "I can't pay that bill. It's a crazy amount, and I'm in debt as it is." Asuka felt sympathetic. She met pitiful tramps before, and Morris didn't look well of judging by his skeletal build, his bones showing through the sleeves. "I will do anything necessary to pay that bill." He looked to her, his eyes searching hers, piercing through her. "Anything." His voice changed subtly.

Asuka really tried to say no. She truly did. But Morris was playing her like a piano in Carnegie Hall. When he changed his voice, he implied she was trying to help her, and Asuka knew about psychotherapy. Creases under her eyes would reveal she had stress, and she needed help with something. Also, the upcoming tournament chanted it's temptation to her over and over, and… well, Jin was evil. Morals would have to come second to saving lives, she thought. And this guy had taken on twenty tougher opponents and gave them a good beating. _If this was when he was drunk, what was he capable sober_, Asuka wondered. "There is something you can do for me." She said reluctantly. "But… it's dangerous." Morris chuckled.

"Danger just means I have a chance of getting hurt." He said. "And I've been fighting so long that I've nearly forgotten how to feel pain. Ju-Jitsu and barrels of whiskey does that to a guy." Asuka nodded, though she thought _Oh, you'll remember pain. You'll remember it._ Morris didn't even consider what the task would entail. "Deal."

"Sure, though, that fighting you did… that might not be enough." She said. "My dad's a dojo master. You can train for what I want you to do. It's a tournament. I'm after somebody, and two people after the same guy will have far better odds than just one." Morris nodded. Made sense to him. "I'm not interested in the money. You can keep whatever we win." Morris's eyes gleaned.

"Really?" He asked, his voice not even trying to hide his glee. Asuka nodded. Morris pulled the whiskey flask out from his trousers. "Swig on it?" Asuka shook her head, giggling slightly. "Don't like alcohol?" Morris asked.

"No…" Asuka explained. "- but I'm considering the fact that it came from your pants." Morris laughed.

"Well, if I got anything else out…" Morris replied, the smirk on his face becoming devilish. "- you'd faint with joy." And thus he cocked his head back and swallowed a good measure of cool whiskey.


	2. Rivals Meet

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Disclaimer: No more school for me, la de doo de deee.

**When you're logging on to Fan-Fiction, you know that picture thing where it asks you to read some words? Well, I was once asked by it to identify 'Religious Baloney' Well, who said that the admin had no humour?**

**Some people reading this may notice a new chain of events from the original. Well, there's a simple reason for all this. I'VE CHANGED THE ENDING! Yeah, so keep your eyes open for changes.**

**No updates for a while. Holiday season hath begun, and I shall be in Menorca trying to get as much shade as possible. (Shrugs shoulders) The sun makes me look like a raspberry ripple. I'm British, so it happens.**

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Rivals Meet**

It was the comfort that kept Morris awake. Being a vagrant, he had become accustomed to a hard gravel bed and a pillow of a dustbin. He could never say life was hard for him. More so, it was custom built. Stealing enough to keep him going, and determinedly having as much as he could while he did. And it had become such as that a roof above him became torture. He decided to sleep in a tree instead. Walking outside, fully clothed, he found the sturdiest tree.

"This'll do." He murmured, leaping once, quickly and strongly, and grasped the said tree. Pulling himself up in one powerful sweep, he slammed down on the sturdy branch. Thankful to his near-feather weight, the branch held. He allowed his spine to fit neatly into a small crevasse, and his eyes gazed upward to the stars, allowing him to take in the amazing sight. Morris smiled. He had wanted to be an astronaut when he was five, and fond memories of star gazing remained to cause pangs of bliss when he saw what little stars he ever did in his hurly-burly life of the cityscape. Thinking of happy thoughts, he closed his eyes.

He regretted it several minutes later.

His reverie was a nastily alien one. He usually dreamt dreams of his own choosing. Such thoughts shall not be described though, for the persistent reader, mentioning young women wearing a devilish smirk and not much else should point you in the right direction. However, Morris was disturbed to find that his new summoned sexual fancy wasn't quite responsive to his passes. Or indeed his speech. Or indeed him, other than the fact that she was quite plainly staring down at him.

In fact, something told Morris that he had no influence in what happened here. _Damn it. _He thought. He rolled his eyes, which really shouldn't be possible if you're dreaming, though this thought didn't strike into Morris as he patiently waited for reality to return.

However, it was still a show for Morris. The young woman who stood over him had the grace not to button her shirt at the top, and her raven black hair graced her shoulders with its brilliant shining majesty. And her face, Morris thought, was simply brilliant. Soft, warm and full, her eyes shining with a spotlight of chestnut brown. Her forehead knotted in concern, though, made Morris wonder if his erection wasn't quite enough to impress her. He thought desperately, but nothing happened. She sighed.

"This isn't what I expected." She murmured slightly. Morris bit his lip. _That_ wasn't quite what he expected. Then he heard a noise, and not an inviting one. A low, vicious growling, all too dangerous to be friendly. Not exactly loud, but imposing. The woman looked around nervously, and looked back down to Morris. "Still, it's got to happen." She said, as the white background started to swirl with red. She bent down and placed her hand over Morris's eyes, concealing his eyes. And everything blacked out.

_Err… I won? Yey for me._ Morris finally asked himself. He didn't dream for the rest of that night.

* * *

Five days. Five days of looking at a broken and beloved ally, cindered and fallen before her. Memories of happiness surrounded, now unable to uplift her, as the greatest loss she had ever suffered chanted before her, nagging at her thoughts and stabbing at her heart. People came and went with apologies, and left shortly after, with no ability to make her feel better. A small group of friends even came back telling her they found the man responsible, and he had absolutely hammered all of them. _Great_, she thought. _My friend broken and now she and I have been humiliated by a drunk._

It had been five days and Xiaoyu still hadn't left Panda's side since the accident. The oddly motionless animal lay there, occasionally opening her eyes when the strength returned momentarily. When she did, she looked to Xiaoyu to only give a hint of a smile, before drifting back into the cold haunting unconsciousness that made her health uncertain. The doctor's insisted that she would be just fine, but Xiaoyu still felt like she had a hole in her life.

"First Jin, now you. When will this end?" Xiaoyu muttered. Her raven black pigtails hung from the side of her head. They seemed to show her depression, hanging like ropes from an unused gallows, albeit if her porcelain features didn't match the colours of any wood.

"If you want to enter the next tournament and hope to win, you better get training, young Xiaoyu." Xiaoyu turned around to the speaker. It was her grandfather, Wang Jinrei. The old man was well over a hundred and going strong. His white beard had now reached his waist. Xiaoyu rolled her eyes at her beloved ancestor. Even indoors, he refused to remove his hat. As much as he concealed it and denied the fact, his completely bald head embarrassed him. Xiaoyu would often at his sight attempt to knock his headgear off, but today she couldn't muster the humour necessary.

"Gramps, if you're going to push me again, forget it. I almost won last time. If Paul hadn't power punched me, I would have faced Heihachi, who isn't the fastest of people, and won the tournament." Xiaoyu moaned.

"It's not a matter of _if_. It's a matter of making sure it doesn't happen again. I was defeated by Kazuya Mishima last time, yet I wasn't allowed to carry on because I _might_ have won." Jinrei replied, taking his time in answering. Typical, thought Xiaoyu. Don't get rushed, just make sure everyone else is. "You hope for too much and plan for too little."

"I've practised for ages. A few days won't hurt. I _have_ to stay by Panda." Xiaoyu said with determination rattling in her voice.

"If Miharu came and suggested shopping, you'd be off in a trice." Jinrei pointed at her accusingly. Xiaoyu only just managed to resist the temptation to ask if such proceedings were to occur.

"That's a lie!" She almost yelled finally. Then the red head they both knew to be Miharu walked in, her purse displayed perceptibly in her hand.

"Hey! Xiao! There's a new clothes shop over in the centre. Five minutes on bus. Wanna come?" She asked in her childish voice. Xiaoyu almost said yes, but remembered her challenge to Jinrei. She wanted to at least have one victory in the argument, as just about everything else she said was as rehearsed as a high-brow Romeo and Juliet production.

"No thanks, Miharu. I've got to stay." Xiaoyu said. Miharu moaned, drooping her shoulders in mock disappointment.

"I guess I have to stay too, then." She chose a spot. "Though we're missing out, Xiao. I saw the best. Dress. Ever!" Jinrei tried to block out the incessant gibbering about some silk dress that is no different to any other silk dress but happened to be worth mentioning. However, after a pathetic four minutes _(pathetic in his own context, as he is used to great stress. If anyone else were to attempt listening to Xiaoyu and Miharu's average conversation any longer than this time, they would probably end up getting arrested for mass murder and a grand theft auto)_ he lost it, letting out all his rage in one loud burst.

"It's always clothes with the younger generation! If it's not denim, it's bloody leather! I'm going for a walk." Jinrei said forcefully, before walking out of the room. He had only just closed the door, and he slumped to the floor in eternal sadness to hear the conversation continue as if nothing had even happened.

"If Xiaoyu's going to enter, she'll need something beyond a miracle." Jinrei mused to himself.

* * *

Morris awoke with a painful headache circling in his head, the pain rattling side to side in his skull. He was, of course, used to this. Hangovers had become as staple a part of his life as breakfast from somebody else's platter, or a good refreshing morning jog running away from the police after sleeping on one of the cars, or even the smooth feel of somebody else's wallet. However, he wasn't quite used to having disapproving looks shot at him from below. People wear usually above him at those times.

He slowly allowing the light to finally focus itself so the blurs took shapes. Morris gave one glance to his onlookers. Asuka and her father. At first it was impossible to tell the difference between the two, until he looked down slightly and noticed the lack of breasts and the far less feminine dress sense, and Morris could take a relatively easy guess. It was Asuka who looked the least annoyed, though whatever it was for; Morris decided the answer would be pretty petty.

"What are you doing in that tree?" Mr Kazama growled. Morris rolled his eyes. He guessed, he shoots, he scores.

"Sitting." He answered, lowering himself slowly. "I _was _sleeping. What time is it?"

"It's noon on the dot, Morris." Asuka said, a smirk trying to force its way onto her face as she held it back. Morris's eyes widened.

"That early?" He asked, genuinely shocked. Asuka's grin finally showed itself, and she bit her lip in trying not to laugh. Her father poked Morris in the chest, once, dangerously.

"That _tree_ was planted by my sister a few short months before her death. I'd expect you to show it some small shred of respect, though then I remember that it's you we're talking about." He growled. Morris looked back into Mr Kazama's eyes, deciding to stare him down. The night before hadn't been a brilliant meeting either. Though Morris expected no better. He _had _attempted to pee in a fountain until somebody told him it wasn't a urinal. However, by then he already had done his business, so maybe he didn't leave quite such a good impression.

Mr Kazama found that, even in his state of fury, he had to back down the stare that Morris gave, though not because Morris could outstare him. "I would ask you not to cross your eyes when I'm talking to you." He asked curtly. Then he looked back to him. "Can you even _comprehend _the spiritual power of that tree?" Morris turned around. Then he did what could possibly be one of the worse things to do in his life. He knocked on it.

"Hello?" He asked, pressing his ear against it. Even Asuka felt a pang of hurt. She had never met her aunt, though she was precious to her father, and the friend of her father was a friend of Asuka's. Morris turned back. "No need to call Bill Murray. Nothing about this…" Then he had to stop in mid-sentence, largely due to the massive flock of birds that swooped into him. It took three hours for Morris to pluck them all away.

* * *

The foot smashed into the wall, embedding a large hole into the granite surface, creating a good foothold for Morris to balance himself in. He waited for his chance, and when he saw it, he threw himself at Mr Kazama, who retaliated with a sharp punch in front of him. Morris rolled to the side of the punch, and drummed his hand into the lower of the enemy's spine. However, he felt a buck kick to the face shortly afterwards. However, Asuka's father buckled from the pain of the previous attack.

Morris was flung to the floor after that kick. He slapped his hand down, dispelling all pressure and cushioning his fall. He moved his legs skilfully and tripped Asuka's father to the floor. He then rolled over him and tried to put his opponent into a pin. However, the short haired opponent slipped underneath Morris and, getting on top, held Morris' neck, hoping to pull him over. Morris grabbed the arm and rolled forwards. He carried on, crushing Asuka's father several times. The young girl watched intently, the spinning forms almost on equal terms. However, she knew that Morris would eventually tire and make mistakes, as he always did. Soon, she noticed that Morris had misplaced his foot, and was tripped and flattened. However, with every fight, Morris lasted longer. This round took a good hour or so.

"Once again, I win. You need more practise if you hope to win." Her father said. He tried to sound disapproving, but Asuka and Morris knew he thought highly of Morris' style of fighting. It was fast, unrelenting and near unique in its use of the surroundings. Morris sat down again, his back to Asuka's father. He clapped his hands and got up. Morris tried to clap but missed and fell to the floor. Asuka didn't even try and think about how this was even possible. He rolled onto his feet. Asuka's father grabbed Morris' shoulders and tried to throw him to the floor. However, Morris simply spun around the back of Asuka's father and, locking his hands and putting his arms underneath his opponent's diaphragm, dragged him over his chest. Asuka's father hit the ground, but before he could react, Morris flipped over and did the same throw again. Morris got up. Asuka's father put his hand on his forehead as it throbbed in pain.

"That was….. unanticipated." Asuka's father admitted. Asuka knew that this as close as he would get to saying Morris was a good fighter. He didn't like to admit defeat, something Asuka had in turn inherited. Morris was suddenly distracted. His stomach screamed for satisfaction.

"When's the food being served?" Morris asked. Asuka's father rolled his eyes.

"You just can't stay focused, that's your problem. Motivation's what you lack. Otherwise…" Asuka's father sighed heavily and carried on reluctantly. "You're a brilliant fighter. I'll kill myself if I ever have to say that again." Morris followed his stomach, however.

"Now?"

"Oh, piss off!" Asuka's father dismissed his pupil in a slightly less polite manner than he would anyone else. Morris ran off towards the dojo canteen. Asuka followed. However, she noticed he never got to the canteen, as he had been tackled by a sheep.

"Where the hell do all these animals keep coming from?" He asked, shooing the sheep away. Amazingly, it obeyed. He watched in surprise as it seemed to know what he wanted.

"I must admit, Dad's right. You've got two days 'til the tournament, and you don't seem to care." Asuka said.

"Blame my upbringing." Morris replied, his smirk returned to his face as he wiped the sweat away with his sleeve. Asuka giggled at the black smear it left. "I was taught to take life as it comes."

"It can't work out much, can it?" She said. "My mother always says 'Hope for the best, plan for the worst'"

"Yeah, though if you're making your life up as you go along, you aren't restricted by plans and when any plan fucks up, it doesn't matter." Asuka raised her left eyebrow in confusion. "What? Makes sense to me." Morris seemed like he didn't know what she didn't like about it. She elbowed him slightly.

"You old berk." She said. They continued on their way to the canteen, though Morris had to shoo away countless animals, including, of all things, a leopard. "What drove you away from your home, Morris?" Asuka asked, hoping to make some conversation and clear away some of the vagueness that surrounded him. He immediately tensed up.

"Curiosity and adventure, mainly." Morris replied hastily, but Asuka saw that he was obviously lying. "I've always wanted to travel. Don't get me wrong, Britain's great. It just gets a bit…. well….. repetitive."

"I must admit, I know what you mean." Asuka muttered, still not trusting him. "And I suppose you only live once." She bit her lip, and looked to Morris. As much as she told herself to hate him, she couldn't help but find herself warming to him. He was only two years her senior, and he had already done more than her dad had done in his life. There was a certain feel around him, and she knew that something exciting must happen to him everyday.

"I've still got the plane ticket to pay for, you know."

"Not in the least bit surprised." Asuka smirked. Morris collected a bottle of beer from a passing wolf.

"You say it like it's a bad thing." Then both he and Asuka considered what had just happened. They turned, only to find the wolf had vanished.

* * *

Miharu and Xiaoyu were walking to the Mishima Zaibatsu Main Building together about the next day. Though they had seen it many times before, they could not help but be in awe of it. It was a colossal building, with a glass roof that touched the sky, and marble pillars supported it. They had got to the entrance, built of the blackest of ebony.

"Well, Xiao. I'll see you on your victory parade." Miharu said. Out of nowhere, Jinrei walked up behind them.

"Shouldn't you be at school, young Miharu?" He asked. Miharu eyes widened.

"OH SHIT!" She cursed before running off. Jinrei turned to Xiao. He just nodded respectively and walked in. Xiao saw some of her best friends, and some rivals. Some new people, though not as many as usual. She made small talk mostly, giving mere waves and such to passers-by. Then she spotted chance to insult a particular rival of hers.

"Hwoarang, still going on your life quest to beat Jin?" Xiaoyu asked mockingly. She had never liked Hwoarang's comments on her 'soul mate' as she and nobody else would call Jin.

"I beat that bastard and he goes does some crazy beams and that stuff. I'm not lying!" The redhead shouted back. Xiaoyu rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, sure." Xiao turned to see an unmistakeable girl about her age, with a feather in her horizontal head band. "JULIA!" She shouted, before running over to hug her. Her braids flowed through the air as she turned, her face shining a brilliant smile to her friend. However, she didn't expect to take the wind smashed out of her as Xiaoyu clasped her in a bear hug. The momentum hammered away her breath.

"Xiao! Haven't seen you since the last tournament!" She returned the hug, and the two friends parted. "Hey, I heard about Panda. I'm sorry." Julia said. Her long brown ponytail swung in the air, coming over her shoulder.

"Really? How?" Xiaoyu asked. Curiosity fuelled her.

"I was in Osaka, doing some research…" Xiaoyu nearly scoffed. Why else was she _anywhere._ "And I heard some guys having a fight outside my hotel room. I know Japanese, and they were shouting at the guy I'm guessing did it. Judging by the noise, they were beaten, badly. If I meet the guy who hurt Panda, I'll give him a beating." Asuka had overheard this, and became worried.

"I better tell Morris." She whispered to herself. He was having a very engaging conversation with the ebony skinned man Asuka recognised as Eddy Gordo. They must have been talking about something pretty exciting if they were that into it.

"Though we had an off-shore wind farm off our coast." Eddy said. "Four mills."

"Four?" Morris asked. His eyes widened to the size of globes. They both squealed like teenage girls talking about the most popular boy band at the time. Asuka rolled her eyes. Some things that were a surprise weren't at all good things. She tapped Morris on the shoulder. He looked away from his conversation. "Yes?"

"Don't go that way, whatever you do." Asuka pleaded, gesturing to the two girls. Morris and Eddy looked.

"Why ever not?" He asked. "Your friends can't be that embarrassing." Asuka tried not to answer with an affirmative 'yes.'

"The owner of that panda's over there." She explained. "And I want to keep on friendly terms with Xiaoyu and Julia, so please don't go and do anything stupid." Morris, however, blanked most of it out, and only heard. **The owner of that panda's over there. Go. Do anything stupid.**

"Glad she's here! I've got a bone to pick with her." He crackled his fingers. However, before he could proceed, he found that a kangaroo and a bear were now holding onto his feet. He made one step, and fell. He looked to the two. "What the hell's with all these animals bloody following me around." He said this loudly, and lots of people turned to look. Sadly, this included Julia and Xiaoyu.

"Hey! You're that guy who hurt Panda!" Julia shouted accusingly. "I'd recognise that voice any day."

"Right!" Morris shouted, trying to pick himself up. "So it's your fault I've been landed with _your _bill!" Asuka crushed her hands against her forehead. This would not end well, knowing her luck.

"Actually it's mine." Xiaoyu butted in. She stood tall over Morris as he looked up. He turned his head to the side.

"What's with the fur lined panties?" He asked. Nearly woman in the room looked on in horror as to what he said. How dare he! Even the Williams sisters were shocked at this statement. The men smirked as Xiaoyu's face went red with either embarrassment or anger. Asuka tried not to laugh. It sounded too typical of Xiaoyu not to be funny, though she tired desperately to avoid laughter. "No offence, but you look a bit young to be a prostitute." Some giggles, a lot of gasps, and, from Asuka, a struggled squirm. "Mind you, in that school uniform get-up, I wouldn't be all too surprised if this were your occupation."

The flood gates opened for Asuka and many of the men in the room, who all began to howl in hysterical laughter. Asuka wept in hilarity as her voice rang with mirth. Xiaoyu and Julia looked around at the ridiculing crowd, who chanted their amusement. Some people even managed to get the breath to wolf whistle, and even Morris found himself laughing. Soon the hall rang with the sounds of shocked women and girls slapping their boyfriends and the muted laughs of said people. Asuka stopped laughing.

"So sorry, Xiaoyu, but…" She wiped a tear away as Morris managed to stand up. Xiaoyu looked to him. Her eyes were as red as her face, and her fists were clenched. She pulled back her fist, only to have Jinrei hold it back.

"Don't, my dear." He said. "It'll only end worse off for you." Xiaoyu knew he was right. "And anyway, you were asking for it, wearing _those_ panties." Xiaoyu stormed out, with Julia and Asuka following her closely, attempting to comfort her. Jinrei stared harshly at Morris. He shrugged his shoulders. And then Heihachi Mishima chose that time to announce the tournament.

"Good day, all competitors!" He shouted. His rough face had grown a beard, and his grey spouts of hair from the side of his bald head were causing great problems for Morris's powers of self restraint.

_Mustn't think of hair._ He looked around for something to focus on. He then saw Christie Monterio, the Brazilian Capoeira expert, and, through her far from reserved shirt, her embarrassingly large….. assets. _Concentrate entirely on hair._ Morris thought to himself, desperate not to embarrass himself.

"I'm so glad so many came, or, at least, in the case of some people…" Here Heihachi stared at Kazuya, who hadn't taken the liberty to conceal himself. He liked to make himself known. "Now, I'm sure you all know the drill. Certain amount of rounds, lots of fighting, we've all been here before. Thank you for your kind attention and may the best man win, so my victory is all the more satisfying!" He now left, his impatient and bored words ringing behind him.


	3. Thick Bleach Best Served Chilled

**Chapter 3 - King**

* * *

Morris' dream was as disturbing as the last. Before, though, it was simply a weird dream, scary in only the unfamiliarity. Now, though, Morris actually woke up early, something he hadn't done in years. Nothing was truly distinct, though, as if he wasn't there. Visions of horrible violence, a woman's scream and the cold silence that could announce nothing but her death. Morris tried desperately to think of his previous, far more comforting fantasies, trying to force himself to return to the rig moral of having an unreal encounter with some kind of perfection, preferably with a stunningly erotic Russian accent… or possibly Rogue from X-Men… the cartoon, not the film, of course, Morris hastily told himself as he observed the star lit sky from his hotel window.

"What have I eaten recently?" He asked himself slowly, tracing the shapes of the moon and constellations with his fingertip. He listed them to himself as he whiled away the night, desperate to escape his nightmarish visions of torment that he could neither perceive nor prevent. He cast his gaze to the small mini-bar, and knew the best way to keep nightmares at bay is to merely forget them. He smiled. Alcohol would never betray him. He bent down, and opened the door quietly.

"Don't you ever sleep?" Came Asuka's voice. Morris looked to her, and couldn't help but not answer for a short while, if only to observe her as she rolled as so her vision would have him in its range. He smiled as hair fell across her forehead, untidy and tightly tangled.

"Uneasy dreams." He answered clumsily, watching her discreetly as she rolled once more. Something about her was remarkably attractive to Morris, as much as he disliked admitting to himself. He guessed why, sighing as he realised. He'd be lying if he were to say any other than this, he supposed. Her beauty was flawed, very much in many aspects. She was short for her age, stocky and her nose had been broken sometime ago. However, Morris couldn't help but think these made her even more appealing. They made her more human. A creature of flesh and blood. Women who he fantasised about were perfect, a quality which made them seem unreal, too good to be true.

"Just take some aspirin or something." Asuka encouraged lackadaisically, too tired to really take offence to the rude awakening. Morris sat at the foot of her bed, on the floor, drinking something. He couldn't read the label; he was already too drunk to even read something in his own language. He slowly fell to sleep, a nasty aftertaste in his mouth.

* * *

"Please hear me, Morris! MORRIS!" Morris slowly wormed his way into consciousness, his ears aching from the desperate cries of Asuka, whose expression of pure worry alerted Morris of something bad. Morris clambered to his knees, gripping her shoulder for support, deciding to leap into action if necessary.

"What's wrong, Asuka?" He asked, as her eyes, which were red, slowly held a half confused, and almost relieved expression. Then she hardened, forcing herself to be irritated. Morris heard the crack of a whip and felt a tremendous sting in his cheek after she slapped him.

"You bastard, I was so worried." She barked. "I thought you had killed yourself!" Morris decided to observe the bottle he had drank from. Well, no wonder the aftertaste was appalling. It was thick bleach, and he had finished the whole bottle. He gulped. "And get your hand off my breast!" Came Asuka's voice as Morris just noticed where his other hand was.

"Well, I thought, seeing as you indicated a sense of urgent danger, I decided to protect the most precious thing in the room." Morris said, his voice dripping with smugness. Asuka forced the hand away, slapping him once more. He stroked his red raw cheek. "Not my height, anyway. And if you're so sunshine and pure o' heart, why is your hand in my trousers?"

"That's _your _hand, Morris." Asuka replied. Morris looked down. He sighed with mock defeat, standing up and placing his head against the pane of the door. He began to walk away to find breakfast when he felt a hand brush against his own. He looked into Asuka's hazel eyes as she drew herself closer. "How uneasy were these dreams if they were disturbing enough to provoke suicide?" Morris laughed harshly.

"To be honest, I thought I was raiding the mini-bar." He answered. "I was trying to drink the nightmares away. Poisoning's a little extreme." Asuka smirked. He slapped her arm. "I'm hungry. Let's get some bacon and hard-boiled eggs." They both smiled and began their journey to the bottom floor.

Morris pressed the button that summoned the lift. Asuka looked to him. "Don't think I've forgiven you for groping me." Morris smirked.

"You make it sound like assault." He murmured. She crossed her arms, a mock scowl befalling her features.

* * *

An hour later, Morris came to the arena he would be fighting in. The arena was massive, almost to a worrying degree for Morris. His city life had grown him used to the big, the grey and the very _very_ poky. Having that same size with a featureless void of sand in a huge pit as people screamed from above gave Morris a deep sense of agoraphobia. The entire room imposed on him entirely. From outside, he noticed it was a football stadium split into four sections, though he hadn't quite realised just how big just one section was. With the size of at least a quarter of a football stadium showing off just how insignificant Morris was, for once in his life, he couldn't think of anything to say. The sand swept into his face as the wind picked up. He growled as he tasted the rock and the blood. Somebody else had fought here, he assumed. And then he noticed his opponent.

Morris nearly wept with laughter at the man's head. Or rather not the head, as he wore a mask to cover it. It was a realistic leopard's head, though the way it was attached was very poor, and he also seemed to forget to consider that a human head is a lot bigger than a leopard's, so the man had to force his head into his neck to fit. It looked profoundly ridiculous. However, Morris didn't feel too much like laughing after noticing that this man had a torso which resembled six bricks with two breezeblocks stuck on top, with arms and legs sticking out. The huge body only served to make the head look even more crazily out of proportion to the rest of him, though Morris was sure he had taken on brick walls smaller than this guy.

"In the red corner..." Came a tannoy announcement. "- he's considered the world's greatest professional wrestler of today. He's fast, he's strong, he's a veteran to this tournament, and he's well known to us as a fearsome fighter. Meet King the Second." King growled as the following cheers caused the ground to shake from the tremendous volume. Morris gulped. "And in the blue corner, we have…" An unconfident pause as Morris waited for his own impressive speech. " _– well, he's stick thin, what am I supposed to say?" _The announcer's hushed words didn't fill Morris with the greatest deal of poise. "He's British!" And everyone gave a polite, quiet clap. The sort of clap parents give at a school sports day. Morris's mood didn't improve.

"Oh crap crappington." Morris muttered as the claxon sounded. And so his first fight began.

King moved first. He was as fast as he was strong, and picked Morris up in a suplex. Morris simply closed his eyes. He knew it would hurt. He approached the ground fast. He felt a surge of pain as he made contact, wincing as he landed. King then rolled over and put Morris in a mount.

"Aren't you going to ask or take me to dinner first?" Morris asked curiously. King decided the best way to answer such a statement would be to punch him. Morris took the opportunity to pop his pelvis up. With King's strength focused in the fist, Morris forced King off with tremendous ease. As King's stance was weakened, Morris brought two jabs from the same fist into King's chin, forcing King onto his feet. As Morris's foot smashed King's shin, the momentum of the attacks proved too much for King, who fell onto his back. Morris stood at full height, ready to take full advantage…

- and that was when the birds flocked around him, cawing and screeching as they did. Morris waved his hands desperately. "What the hell? Seriously?" He asked himself. He batted one away, and the others hovered above him. Morris looked up as they circled above. He found that to be a big mistake in a fight as King's punch sent Morris rocketing across the arena floor. The birds were re-invigorated to flock around Morris as he tried to stand up. "STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP!" The crowd didn't share his ire as they howled with laughter. However the birds, amazingly, obeyed, backing off a few metres. Luckily for Morris, they backed off just to where King was, who struggled to get through. Morris decided to use his time well.

He stuck his hand down his trousers.

If this were Cartoon Town, it'd be a safe guess that the audience's eyes would pop out and their jaws would drop to the floor in a way that is medically known as 'impossible'. However, in the real world, only half the audience did this. However, what shocked them more were the words that followed. "Where is it?" Morris asked, as the silence of the stadium echoed the statement. "It isn't where it should be…" And then a look of triumph. "Perfect! And hard as ever!" Then he produced the frying pan. Most of the audience sighed with relief. However, a lot of the women and a worryingly large amount of young men moaned in disappointment. Morris looked to King as he fought his way through the flock of birds.

"Bonk!" Morris shouted as the frying pan slammed onto the top of King's mask, who screamed and growled in pain. A double-cheek-slap, a handle-smash to the shoulder and, as a final insult, a smack to the groin. King fell to his knees, as Morris produced several elastic bands. He began to use the frying pan to flick them at the groaning King. "Give up!" Morris ordered. As if to obey, King fell over, his hand outreached to grab Morris, though it ended up just looking like an overly dramatic surrender.

"That was easy." He muttered, and then he looked up. He saw that, for once, a large group of people were actually entertained by his antics rather than producing weapons. Morris smiled victoriously, giving bows and winks. "Thank you, thank you." He shouted. He looked over to the flock of birds, which were cawing loudly. "Well, you were useful, weirdly." He muttered. Then he walked away. He knew that Asuka was also fighting, and that the aftermath should be commencing.

* * *

He walked into the crowd of the next arena, pushing his way past everyone and stealing handfuls of popcorn. He jumped down into the arena itself… and fell into the neck deep water. He looked around the arena. Floating platforms, some of ice, some of foam, scattered across a huge lake. He sighed, self-loathingly. "I thought it was just painted that way." He looked to the two fighters. Asuka and… some other person. And Morris, for once, was awed.

Asuka was indeed finishing up the fight, having not even a scratch on her, her opponent looking much bruised up. However, it was the grace that made Morris gulp. Not one attack seemed out of place. A kick, a punch, a pirouette. It was almost a kind of dance as she swirled and struck, swift as a whirlwind, graceful as a bird, strong as a cyclone. Even on the ice, she didn't even look as if she were to fall. Morris even forgot just how uncomfortable the water was as her fighting style mesmerised him. It was brutal in its complexity and beautiful in its grace. Morris began to wonder how he ever managed to beat her father.

The final blow smashed her opponent into the water with a well-aimed knee. The crowd chanted her name over and over, and she smiled around. Morris swam over to the platform she walked over to. She noticed him. She bent to his level and stretched out her hand.

"How hard King hit you if you managed to land in here?" She asked. Morris laughed.

"On the contrary, Mr dear Watson." Morris said. "I was victorious in my pursuit. And might I add, Asuka, that your fighting style is the second most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Asuka smiled at hearing of Morris's triumph, though she couldn't help not to raise a suspicious eyebrow.

"What's first?" She asked. Morris ran his fingers through his sodden hair.

"What, she says." He said, almost sounding as if he meant it. Asuka smirked.

"Well, we're both in the second round." She said thoughtfully. "How'd it go?" She asked. Morris snorted, grabbing himself a towel.

"Pushover. Yours?"

"Same." Morris laughed harshly at the answer.

"If it's going to be that easy all the way through, I shouldn't have any major problems." Morris replied. "Say, want to go to a bar or something?" Asuka thought about this offer.

"Lunch or drink?" She asked.

"Don't know. You're paying." Morris said.

* * *

They were soon at a bar. It had taken a while for the drinks to arrive, but Asuka was tired, and she said that she needed the energy back. As such, she ordered herself a Lucozade. Morris ordered a Tom Collins*. Asuka sighed with mock disheartenment.

"What told me you'd order something with whiskey in it?" She asked him. He shrugged his shoulders, looking up to the television on the wall. There was a fight being shown live, and Morris held particular interest. It was Xiaoyu, somebody who he decided he'd probably rather enjoy hammering to within an inch of her existence.

"She's not as bad as you think." Asuka explained as Morris allowed the whiskey and soda's taste echo around his throat like a shout in a tower. "She may look style over substance, though she's improved more than any other fighter here, from losing to me in the first round two tournaments ago to getting fourth place." Morris smirked.

"That's less than a bronze award. That's, what, copper or something?" He asked her. Asuka shook her head.

"Fourth place doesn't sound great, but consider that there where forty-one of the greatest fighters of all time then." She said. "Me and her included. And I only came sixth."

"Only came sixth?" Morris asked. "_Only_ came sixth? Are you kidding?" Asuka blushed. "You're the sixth best fighter in the world, and you're not proud?"

"The point is…" Asuka took control of the situation. " – she's gotten tough. You're not fighting those kids in the street, you're fighting people tougher than me, and there are plenty of them."

"Not from what I've seen." Morris looked back to the TV. A somersault, a cartwheel, it was making him sick, watching it. "Judging by her flashy techniques, she's a student in arsing around."

"Hakke sho and Hikka ken, actually." Came a wizened voice form behind him. Morris turned around. Wang Jinrei had turned his chair around. "From what I've seen, that's more your departure." He turned to Asuka. "Oh, hello young Kazama." Jinrei said pleasantly.

"Master Wang, it is an honour to meet you again." Asuka bowed her head. Jinrei turned to Morris.

"You can laugh at my name, you know, I'm not offended." He pointed to Morris, who shook his head to say that he wasn't laughing. He refused to open his mouth in fear of embarrassing himself. "I know you're not trying to laugh because you're shaking, smiling, and you appear to have bent your spoon." Morris looked to the tell-tale spoon. He looked back.

"It's not effort of not laughing." He spoke with utmost sincerity. "It's telekinesis. I've had psychic powers since I was born. Like a Pokemon!" He added optimistically. Jinrei and Asuka collectively rolled their eyes. Then Jinrei leaned towards Morris.

"Poop." He said. The flood gates opened, and Morris fell off the chair in fits of laughter. Jinrei sat in the seat and began to talk to Asuka. "Asuka, if you wanted help defeating Jin, you should've found somebody competent at fighting." Morris was too busy laughing to contribute or even listen to the conversation they began.

"He _is _competent." She answered. "He's an idiot, though he's a darn good fighter. I saw him take on twenty larger, stronger, armed opponents when he was drunk and he didn't even break a sweat."

"Did he tell you how he beat King? He took a frying pan out of his pants and hit him around the head with it."

"He still beat him." Asuka sighed slightly. She knew, on many levels, Jinrei was right. She looked to Morris's shaking, laughing form. She looked back to Jinrei. "He's unorthodox, yes, and yet…" She thought about what she was about to say. " – and yet he might be just what we need."

"You know that's wrong. You know that's a barefaced lie, and you know that all you've done is brought somebody into this who didn't need to be." Jinrei looked to Morris. So did Asuka. "Do you think this is what we need against that monster?" Asuka sighed.

"He'll try, though." She said. "It's not enough to beat Jin, though it's a good example to us all." Morris began to pull himself up. He giggled slightly.

"Priceless." He muttered. He took a sip of Asuka's Lucozade. He looked to Jinrei. "So what do you want, beardy?" Jinrei stood up to leave.

"I was going to ask you to defeat Xiaoyu quickly, but…" Jinrei started. Morris grasped his hand.

"Easy there, old man." He said. "This sounds interesting."

"Well," Jinrei sat down again. " - one of you _must _defeat Xiaoyu; otherwise she'll be in great peril." Morris and Asuka both raised their eyebrows.

"Wow. That's the first statement to make me reconsider fighting Xiaoyu." Morris said. Asuka punched his arm. Jinrei continued.

"You see, Jin Kazama has returned to Japan, as you are probably aware." He said. "However, I think he might be looking for Xiaoyu. I don't know why, though something tells me that he wants to get to her. He's strong, and I know he'll reach the final round. He will stop at nothing to win, and he doesn't care who he hurts in this tournament." Jinrei seemed mournful. Asuka growled at mention of Jin. Morris then thought of something. Something that, weirdly, was actually kind of smart.

"What would Jin want with your granddaughter?" Morris asked. "She's clearly not carrying around any state secrets, she would have accidentally blurted them all out by now if she did, so what would a megalomaniacal CEO want with a schoolgirl considers Caramelldansen a higher form of art than poetry?"

"Well, they were school friends and, well, I fear she may love him." Jinrei answered simply.

"Wait. Trying to wipe out his family, wooing his school friends and trying to conquer the world. This guy must wake up early. Zero points to him for laziness and ten for being an arsehole" Morris commented. Asuka snorted slightly. "And also, Jin wouldn't have anything to gain going after Xiaoyu. What's she to him?" Jinrei looked embarrassed.

"To be honest, I don't know." He replied. "At the fifth tournament, I lost to him. He promised to end the Mishima curse. I foolishly believed him, though I sensed the devil within him. Because of my lack of action, he is no longer Jin. The devil within him has taken full control. And I think the devil may want something from her." Morris considered this.

"She's flat as a board." He began to list reasons for not needing her. "She's thicker than a brick. She's as useless as a waterproof sponge… what would Jin want from her? Sex is out of the question, she just doesn't have that look. He can't really hold her ransom as she doesn't have any rich carers. She can't help him, so he has nothing to gain."

"Not necessarily, Doctor Watson." Asuka quoted. "If Jin ever felt for her, the devil would need to make sure Jin lost all hope. To ensure total control over Jin and complete strength." She clicked her fingers. Jinrei nodded.

"I knew you'd figure it out." He said. "Even I couldn't." Morris shook his head.

"Why are we all calling him 'devil' for some reason? Has he got DID?" He asked. Asuka and Jinrei looked to each other.

"It's complicated." Jinrei said finally. "You concentrate on making sure that Xiaoyu and Jin never meet." Morris chuckled slightly.

"Trying to assert control over the other part of his mind." He repeated to himself. "Sounds like what would happen if Breaking Benjamin directed the Nutty Professor. _'Eddie Murphy as a whiny man-bitch'_, what do you think of it?" Jinrei rolled his eyes and walked away irritably. Morris laughed.

"Old loony." Morris muttered.

"Actually, he's a highly respected friend of the Kazama family. If he says something, he'll probably be right." Asuka turned to Morris.

"That's the problem. 'Probably'. If you worry about what will happen, it will happen. I just dive in, so whatever happens, I won't be surprised too badly." Morris chuckled slightly. "If you believe that, you'll believe me when I say the sun's made of snow." Asuka chuckled as well, though the reminder of the task they had ahead weighed on her good mood.

* * *

* A Tom Collins is a kind of drink that... oh, just Google it, you lazy shits


	4. Shadows

**Chapter 4 – Shadows**

* * *

Morris awoke bewildered and slightly at unease. He noticed that everything was yellow. Or it would be, but there was nothing there to actually _be_ yellow. He could only see yellow, and inside he retched in horror. Being British, mild superstition surrounded his everyday life. Nobody believed it, though if something fitted, it became the only truth. And Morris thought of a particular superstition and it got jammed hard into his brain. Finally, he thought, years of masturbation had caught up with him, and now he was struck blind.

"Oh fucking hell!" He screamed in panic, throwing his arms around, to find that his hands met some odd material. Then he heard Asuka's voice.

"Morris, why are you hiding in the curtains?" She asked. Morris's heart skipped a beat and slowed as he sighed with relief.

"Help…" He sheepishly murmured. He felt her hands pry away at the cotton material. She extended her arms. As he pulled himself up with her support, he felt a small collection of rodents scurry out of his pockets.

"Morris, you're pale as all hell." She said anxiously. Morris looked at his hands. Bone white. "You had another bad dream, didn't you?" Morris shrugged his shoulders.

"It's odd." He said. "Don't remember it, but I must've had." He looked up to Asuka's notched eyebrows. "You look unbelieving…"

"Well, you woke me up." She said. "You were screaming horribly, as if something was killing you. And there was this name… you kept shouting for someone called 'Spike'. D'you happen to know anybo…" Asuka looked up to see that Morris had frozen to the spot. The mice and rodents scurried away in fear, and Morris certainly felt like following suit. "Morris?" He snapped out of his trance and looked to her.

"No, it's just… I haven't heard that name in years" He left it there. He still had trouble explaining it, even to himself. He walked out of the door and into the corridor. He noticed his hands become only paler. And then flashes occurred in his mind. A vague reminder of his dream. A young woman, probably no older than Asuka, screaming urgently. In fact, it looked a lot like her, though… it was unclear, and screaming wasn't something Morris thought Asuka did on a regular basis. The cries for help, though, sounded hideously disturbing for Morris.

_Spike! Spike, for god's sake, help! SPIIII…_

Morris heard a yelp to bring himself back to reality. He looked in front of him. There was a youthful, feminine face, contorting between shock and fury, her fair hair flickering in anger. Then Morris noticed what the problem was. His hands were on her breasts. He pulled away quickly.

"Sorry!" He said as the girl's eyes violently glared at him. "I'm so sorry, miss…" He looked down to the inscriptions on her white shoulder-less top. Morris assumed at first he simply was too drunk to read, though realised that the lettering was Greek. However, unfazed by a word such as ξυράφι, Morris decided to try anyway. "Eeeuuupp… swirl thingy penis stick?" The girl seemed only more infuriated.

"It's Razer to you!" The girl barked, loud enough to cause Morris to jump. "And you better have a good reason for that."

"No, seriously, I wasn't looking where I was going and I…" Morris began to babble, not even listening to himself. He found himself distracted by the low cut top. He tried to hold back the comment, but his self-restraint was already in shreds. "… melon with a hose pipe and with a top that revealing it was an accident waiting to happen."

It might have sounded like a branch snapping, but the pain and power that the slap had smashed into Morris's cheek convinced him that she had just shot her. He was pretty much propelled into the stair well, and, with a floor not designed to have a man-sized object with similar velocity to a napalm bomb, he felt himself smashing through onto the ground floor. As he wallowed and moaned in pain, he looked up. At first he had found blessing within a curse, as he noticed a very good view inside a denim shirt, though he changed his mind when he saw the owner of the skirt and boots.

"You again? What now, did I step on an ant or something?" Morris said callously as Julia scowled at him.

"No. You're my next opponent. If you're going to be that clumsy during the fight, you're out of luck." She said. She stepped on him and walked up the stairs. Morris grunted.

"Oh, don't worry about me! I've only just fell through four floors or more, nothing at all harmful, you know, you manic, stuck-up, moaning bitch!" He shouted back. He got up. He turned around. There was a huge man who looked almost naked, and he didn't look happy, either. Morris sighed. _Today's going great. I've gone insane, fell through some stairs and have probably broken as many bones as I have, and now this. Can't I have a bloody break?_ The sumo picked him up off the floor with one hand and slammed him into the wall.

"Don't talk to Lady Chang that way again, ok?" He said ferociously. Morris searched for some snappy and witty comeback. However, something distracted him. He saw Ling Xiaoyu in the crowded lobby. She was being followed by a large teenager who was obscured by his hood. Xiaoyu obviously didn't see him. "Are you listening?" The sumo grunted. Morris happy-slapped the sumo and decided to leg it. He kept an eye on the obscured teenager. Hoodies were a common occurrence in Britain, though something told Morris that this guy was bad news. He looked to Xiaoyu, and back to the teen, who was fixated, and following her discreetly and doggedly. Morris sighed, reaching into his pants.

"Why am I doing this?" Morris said and ran towards the teenager. He intercepted him. When the teenager stood to one side, Morris did also. "Do I know you?" He asked. The teenager pushed Morris out of the way.

"Stay out of my way." He growled. Morris smirked. There it was, the chance he was looking for.

"Don't you dare!" He barked, swinging a punch. What happened next was just as painful as the slap he had received recently. No, more so, as if the teenager's hands were brick, and faster than wasps, as four punches drummed into Morris's torso, and a kick fired him across the room, smashing through the crowd. He looked to Xiaoyu when the teenager did. There was no sign or trace of her. The teenager growled dangerously, and turned to Morris. The air Morris breathed froze, and the entire room stopped in apprehension. All he could do as the faceless man, his hood holding the blackness of hell, glared with all the power of a truck with a deer within its sights, was simply smile sheepishly.

"Make good care that I never see you again." The hooded man said quietly, before walking away. Morris looked to his trousers. He sighed, and looked around for a place to change out of the sodden clothes.

* * *

The arena of ice and water that Asuka had fought in before was just as cold as before. Julia's face matched the cold, serious nature of the Arctic arena, made to reconstruct the conditions of such a place. She looked impatiently to Asuka, who just shrugged worriedly. Julia was about to walk away with a default victory when Morris pushed his way through the crowd.

"S'cuse me. Pardon. Oi, you want some o' this, then?" Came his slurred voice. Julia and Asuka turned. His blonde mop of hair was dragged across his face, and a huge bruise was on his face. However, it was the way he walked that caught their attention. His arms were clutching to the abdomen as he staggering, grunting with every step with a brilliant strain. Asuka ran over to him.

"What happened to you?" She said panicking. Morris

"I fell." Morris answered quietly. He punched her lightly on the forearm. "I'm fine." He winced when his arm had left his body. "Now, where's Pocahontas?" He said slowly.

"Here." Julia said. She got into her fighting stance. Morris panted slightly in pain. Julia laughed harshly. "Give up now while you've still got a chance."

"Well at least I'm not a virgin." Morris shouted. Then he leaned to Asuka's ear. "I hope she doesn't know I'm a virgin." He whispered as the bell rang. Asuka ran back to the viewing box as Julia rushed forward.

The fight started off with Julia elbowing Morris. Morris staggered back. He grunted, and didn't recover for a few seconds. He ran over and tried to punch Julia. It didn't have much effect. She just raised her arm and stood on one leg, allowing Morris's limp arm to fall away. She smacked him straight in the abdomen, and Morris howled in hurt.

"Not fair!" He yelped, before head butting her away. She recovered instantly, though her forehead was numb, and her vision was blurred from the impact. She only just saw Morris's kick coming, and couldn't block even if she tried. She fell out of her stance, though stood upright and strong. Morris, however, simply flopped in the effort, and fell face first onto the ice. Julia's eyebrows knotted angrily.

"This is an insult!" She barked at him as he forced himself onto his hands and knees. He peered through the ice. The water was cold, black, and unforgiving. Morris tapped his knuckle against it, and felt a punishment for his delaying, as Julia drove her foot into his shoulders. Asuka screamed in protest, declaring a foul, though Morris had an idea.

_Let's even the odds a little._ He remained on the floor as Julia brought her foot up. Morris pushed himself forward a little, and she drove her heel into his abdomen. He barked, and pushed himself slightly further away. She repeatedly kicked, and he took it, going further all the while.

"I've won, Morris!" Julia proclaimed as she rose her foot. Morris waited for her to fire it towards him. When she did, Morris forced himself forward as far as he could muster. Julia's foot smashed through the ice, and into the cold water. Her grip faltered on the ice, and she fell onto her knees. She groaned as a hard foot sized lump of ice smacked into her groin. She looked as Morris lifted himself up. She jumped up. "A pathetic tactic for such a worthless gain!" Morris giggled slightly.

"Cunt punt." He snickered. Julia fell into her stance. She tried to begrudge Morris, and tried to tell herself his plan achieved nought, though she knew it gave him time to stand, and, what with his abdomen in enough pain to prompt his arms to wrap around them permanently, standing up was his only hope. She decided to bull charge him. He, however, pushed back with his feet and slammed himself straight into the water.

Julia slammed her feet down into the ice, hoping for purchase. However, she slipped and she joined Morris in the icy depths of the water. She opened her eyes and peered into the darkness, looking for some sign of Morris. Then she saw, to her amazement, dolphins. Their sleek, grey forms swam graciously around a centre of attention, their beauty distracting her a while. Then she surfaced, realising the strangeness of animals circling like that. She saw Morris holding to a platform of foam. He groaned in effort and strain as he lifted himself up. What would take a normal person a mere two seconds to do took Morris an agonising thirty. She took pity as he rolled onto his front, whimpering and shaking.

Then Julia remembered her goal, not to mention the spears of cold chilling her blood. She got onto the main ice platform. She stood tall. Morris remained lying. He knew better than waste the effort. He felt as if his body was on fire, and if it wasn't for the dolphin's mysterious eagerness to help, he would've simply drowned in the effort of getting onto the foam, so standing was the last thing he wanted to do. Well, that outside losing. He looked to Julia, and snorted.

"Isn't it odd?" He murmured, shivering with pain. "You think you have the upper hand, and you're yet to catch me." Julia stood back, preparing herself. Morris wondered what for, though saw another foam platform drift between the two. He gulped as she leapt, gliding through the air and landing perfectly on the platform. Morris looked at the gap. Too much to jump, he guessed, though she'd get close enough to pull herself up, and he couldn't even stand. He tried to support himself on to his first leg, and he burned with ache. He screamed and fell back onto his front, causing only more pain. Then he saw Julia dive into the water. Morris's mind couldn't even comprehend any form of strategy behind it. Sure, he couldn't see where she'd come from, though why did it matter? He was immobile for now.

And then he felt a tremor, and a fist smashed into his back from under the platform as Julia punched a large hole through. Morris's ribs screamed for relent as he was forced to one side. Julia pulled herself up. He looked to her. She grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, and his cheek became subject to a series of hard punches. The crowd screamed in delight. And then one voice was heard above all the others.

"CAN'T YOU SEE HE'S HAD ENOUGH?" Asuka shouted. Julia turned to her, with hurt in her eyes. Morris looked to Asuka, whose eyes were red, as she made her way right to the edge of the platform. Morris felt a lonely echo in his heart as he saw the worry on her face. He smiled, forgetting to even take advantage of the distraction. _At least somebody cares._

"Sorry, Asuka, dearest of friends." Julia answered. "Though I must win… for my tribe." She raised her hand, ready to send the final blow.

"_Spike! Spike, for god's sake, help! SPIIII…"_

"_It's ok, it's ok. I'm here now, so nothing bad'll happen."_

_Morris looked around in shock. He felt the grass beneath his feet, the warm summer breeze engulf him as he looked around the idyllic surroundings, as leaves and the large stems of grass spiralled in the wind, and all the while, Morris's mind was only saying one thing. __**Have I just fallen into Oz?**_

_Morris's shoulders pulled towards his neck as he fell into a battle stance, only to find he was no longer in pain. He could move as fast as before. He became unnerved, and then he remembered something. __**Spike? Here? Why?**_

_He looked over. He somehow recalled who the raven haired woman was. It was the woman he had seen in his dream at the Kazama home. She looked a lot younger, by at least twenty years, and probably a lot more. Before she was late twenties, but now, she looked younger than Asuka. Her hair was shorter, sparing the fringe, and Morris could only bring himself to think that she must be causing this… trip… somehow._

_And, much to Morris's amazement, was Spike Wellington, pulling the girl up and wiping her tears away with his thumb. He looked too much like Morris for it to be a joke. His hair was spikier, and the skeletal figure Morris had wasn't quite as obvious, though, besides that, Morris and his uncle were identical. It was typical, seeing as him and Morris's mother were identical themselves, if she was a lot younger and of different gender. Even the classic family smirk was on his face._

"_Got frightened, did you?" Spike said jokingly. Morris nodded to himself. Yep, that was Spike alright. Mischievous, roguish, and yet had only the best intentions for those he cared for. Morris couldn't believe his eyes. Spike was supposed to be on the run for stealing and smuggling diamonds, what was he doing with a young girl, comforting her like a father figure?_

"_Ha, ha, ha, Spike." The girl spat, sticking her tongue out at him. "The net traps weren't funny!" Spike chuckled._

"_Yes they were." He answered. Morris walked over. He sat next to Spike and the girl, neither of whom noticed him. "You see, my life is all about the challenge." He said. Morris got closer. He had heard this before, and he never grew tired of it. He heard it as a kid, heard it when Spike was carted away by the police, heard it when he was asked in court why he stole all those diamonds, heard it was he escaped from the high security prison while dancing joyfully. He told it to himself everyday, almost like a mantra._

"_Anything I see opposing me, I just have to have a go at it." He said. "After all, what's the point of life…"_

"_- if you don't try and beat every challenge it throws at you?" The girl and Morris finished together. "Yeah, but that's not an answer." The girl moaned. Spike laughed, smirking._

"_Ahh, Nature Girl, think about it. What happens when you get caught?" He said. The girl rolled her eyes._

"_You have to admit you've been beat. The greatest blow to your self esteem." She groaned. "So I have to be able to beat everything…" Then she glared at him. "And don't call me Nature Girl!"_

"_Whatever, you love it." Spike laughed, putting his hand into his shoulder holster. "And animals are nuts for you. So…" Without hesitation, he pulled out the pistol that he had at all times, smacking the girl across the head. She yelped as she fell to the floor, her head against a large river. " – what will you do when I've got you down like this?" Spike finished. Morris stood back. Spike wasn't one to pull a gun onto a girl, though if he was teaching a lesson, he was prone to doing things like that._

_Then something happened. It was the last thing Morris expected as the girl plunged her hand into the river. He saw her hand grab a fish, and, somehow, it pulled her away as Spike fired. The bullet scarred the river bank as the girl dug her feet into the soil, and pulled herself onto land. Spike couldn't turn fast enough, and she smashed her fist into his cheek, pulled his gun arm toward her. She lifted the arm sharply, and Spike yelped, dropping the gun. The girl then unleashed a furious combo of kicks and punches that Morris couldn't even follow. However, the spins and the almost dance-like grace reminded him somewhat of something he couldn't quite remember. Then Spike laughed heartily._

_And it was the last Morris heard._

"Sorry, Asuka, dearest of friends." Julia answered. "Though I must win… for my tribe." She raised her hand, ready to send the final blow. Morris's mind raced faster than he did, and he already knew what would happen. He swung his arm around a dolphin's fin as it pulled away. Julia fell forward, her fist punching thin air and smacking the foam platform powerfully. The whole thing turned over, and the shock stunned Julia for a good few seconds.

Morris literally jumped back onto the platform, strength renewed and spirit rekindled. Julia swam to him as he waited. She looked to him.

"You're weak and tired." She told him. "And you've ran out of places to run!" Morris chortled as she put herself onto one knee. Her arm rose, gaining power for the uppercut that was her speciality. Asuka gulped when she saw this. It was, to be frank, unstoppable. It was so unfairly strong that even Heihachi prepared for a sharp hit and a sharper fall when she prepared it. Julia charged, the audience, all familiar with this move, held its breath…

… and Morris punched the arm.

Julia screamed as her own force was used against her. Morris moved his arm slowly but steadily, unmovable, and the force from the uppercut had to go somewhere. So it went straight back into Julia's arm. She screamed as the impact nearly broke her arm clean in two, and her arm was throbbing with the sting. But Morris wasn't done, as he used the slippiness of the ice to his advantage, skirting past her, leg outstretched, bringing her down. She fell to her stomach, while Morris stood, wrapping his leg around hers, and forcing his weight down onto her.

"Say pudding." He said as she howled in agony. The crowd cheered louder as she shrieked louder. The pain on her leg was tremendous. She tried to hold. She was desperate to hold, though, in the end, she gave in.

"PUDDING!" She screamed, raising her right hand to surrender. The announcer and the crowd chanted Morris's name. He looked to Julia.

"Now, you extinct indigenous being, tell Xiaoyu and anyone else you see that I'm going to be a whirlwind of pain for everyone I fight!" He told her as she glowered at him. He walked away, punching the air and waving. "Thank you, thank you." Then he felt something pink hit his face. He looked to it. He smirked. "Ladies panties." He said to himself. "THANKS!" He shouted. Then he felt something orange hit his face. He looked to it. This time, the pants were a man's. Morris couldn't quite think of a response, throwing the pants away to the dolphins, who were chattering excitedly. _It's the thought that counts, I suppose._ He walked over to Asuka, who looked shocked. He wore a smug smile. "Don't look surprised. I said I could beat her." He said haughtily.

"That's not what I'm surprised at." Asuka said, her eyebrows notched with concern. "How'd you know how to do the leg thing?"

"What, the cloud-taste throw? Dunno, I just….. did." He said simply.

"That's a Kazama Style Throw, and I most certainly haven't heard it being called Cloud Taste." She sounded worried. Morris looked quite surprised. He looked at her.

"What? So I know a throw I'm not supposed to. Surely it's a good thing if I can do it well." Morris said irritably.

"That's the thing. You know it all too well, yet it's never made any significance in your life, you've never seen it before and I'm sure you haven't used it at any other point in your life." Asuka explained.

"Now, that's untrue. I…" Morris stopped. She was right. He had never seen or preformed it in his life. He suddenly became extremely interested in how the water washed onto the ice in its soft and slow way. Morris looked at his hands, and back to the dolphins.

"What have I done wrong today?" He asked himself.


	5. Acceptance is the Best Healer

**Chapter 5 – Important Things**

* * *

"_Spike…" Came the voice that Spike heard every day for the last two years. He sighed, scratching his nose as it twitched irritably. The fly that danced on it remained. He sighed._

"_Yeah?" He turned slowly to the girl he had been teaching. She had grown, Morris could see. She now held a more mature stance than his previous encounter with her. The recklessness she had once had was now calmed, the energy in her eyes dulled, though some fire remained._

"… _I don't think I can have the lesson today. I've got… an appointment." She said nervously. Spike looked up lazily to the roof, raising a pencil and preparing to throw._

"_It's that boy, isn't it?" He said, smirking as he did. "That weirdo from Tokyo. The one with the crazy eye. He'll do you no good, Nature Girl." The pencil thudded into the ceiling as Spike leaned forward mischievously. "It's that kind of date that tends to be the most fun." The girl smiled with him as he pointed to the door. "Go on. And if your father asks, I'm ill, ok? And if your older brother asks, your date had something in his eye."_

_The girl ran off with an all new spark. Spike sat back. He had always enjoyed making people smile. Morris looked around. He peered into the darkness and saw a shadow._

"_You're right when you say it'll do her no good, Spike." Morris placed the voice immediately. And, as Jinrei stood forward seemingly to confirm Morris's theory, Morris clenched his fist._

So Jinrei was in on these crazy vision quests I'm having! Well, he'll get what's coming to him._ Morris thought, scowling dangerously and desperate to wake and ask the old man a few questions. _And how the hell does he still look over hundred? He must be older than the sun.

"_She's still listening, you know." Spike said, still smiling, completely unfazed by anything, it seemed._

"_She mustn't let him into her heart." Jinrei answered. "He's pure evil. You know better than anyone."_

"_So what if she grows to love him? So what if it does her no good?" Spike said. "No love's done anyone any good. It's just a force of nature. As futile as lust, power or sympathy. It's a feeling. Nothing more." He sighed, looking to the door. "She's still young, still doesn't know the real things in life. Let her have her fun." Morris was amazed as to what he saw across Spike's face. Emotion. It was a rare thing for Spike to show, and Morris had barely once seen it. But now, Spike showed what was past the mask of permanent smiles and smirks. A lonely and sympathetic man, only wanting the best from all. He paused for a small while, and carried on._

"_Yes, you're right." He said. "Yes, he's a bad person for her to be near, and yes, he will cause her pain. Though what of it? She'll be happy with him, and that's all that matters anyway."_

"_Happiness? That's all you think there is?" Jinrei went into an outburst. "You don't think there's anything more?"_

_A pause._

"_There's nothing more important." Spike finally answered. "All other things are helpful. None are essential. And that is all. If she dies young, she shall die happily if I have any say in it." He looked to Jinrei. "Please, don't ruin another person's life just to end one loose end. She doesn't deserve it." Jinrei sighed to this._

"_There can't be another Jinpachi, Spike. I shall leave you now." And, with that, Jinrei followed the girl out of the door. Spike sighed._

"_That's what I mean." Then the smirk came back as he looked to the ceiling. "Miserable old bastard. And don't think he was young once, Morris. He was born that old."_

"_I can imagine." Morris answered. Then he noticed something. He looked to Spike dead on in the face. "You can see me."_

"_Of course I bloody well can." He said. "I can smell you, at any rate. Get a wash once in a while. You're not even born and already you stink the place up like Pepe Le Pew."_

"_How?" Morris fell onto his behind as Spike stood tall. Morris could barely remember the last conversation he had with his beloved uncle. He was sure it must be more than a decade from now. Spike shrugged his shoulders._

"_Buggered if I know. Magic? Relationship? I was hoping you'd answer that, Morris." Morris tried to think of a reply, though the shock of realising just how real his dream was, just how close he was to Spike after years of distance, felt like a shotgun shell to the stomach._

"_So, is this a dream, or have I time travelled?" Morris asked. Spike looked out of the window. He rested his arms on the window pane. Morris joined him. Spike sighed heavily, prompting Morris took look. "Uncle Spike, please."_

"_I never thought I'd be called that, not even by…" Then Spike's eyes widened. "Oh, of course! It would be!" He literally leaped over to the desk and began to scribble quickly. "I'm not sure, so you must do this for me, for your sake. This note I'm writing, you'll find it in the bar of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Don't, under any circumstances, read it. Ask the barman to open safe B3, combination ac4, c2, ac7, c1, and give it to your room mate. I'll take a guess as to who it is, and if I'm right, you're in trouble."_

"_Why?" Morris felt the urgency of the situation and danger to him was a MAJOR problem in his view._

"_I'm not sure why." Spike said. "I'll just find out later." He looked to the window. "I've just got an idea." He looked to Morris. "And how does my life turn out?" Morris gulped. He really didn't want to tell, but he knew he couldn't forgive himself for saying it._

"_Your diamond thievery is stopped, you escape instantly and aren't seen or heard from for years." He finally answered after an internal struggle. Spike gulped. "I told the police that you were a diamond thief." Morris added as Spike's face snapped into a spasm of pain and betrayal._

"_So…" He said. "Why do you tip off the police?" He finally asked Morris. Morris bowed his head. He knew this would come. At least he'd tell somebody who'd understand. He never told Asuka the _real_ reason he left England, and hoped he wouldn't have to. He tried to choke the crying back._

"_Because…" He felt tears roll down his face. " – because you killed my mum."_

_Spike dropped his arms in horror, the note he held falling to the floor, his eyes becoming rising suns of despair and disbelief unto themselves. Morris looked up. He wanted to tell Spike that he knew why now, that he understood, but the pain of Spike's reaction was unbearable to see, and to say why would be the death of him._

"_Why would I?" Spike asked finally. Morris shook his head as he felt himself fade._

"_I forgive you now, Uncle Spike." He said. "Because…"_

Morris sat bolt upright as he awoke, tears rolling down his face and a breath stuck in his throat.

"– because…" He never finished. He sat still for the longest while, the silence echoing throughout the room. He looked over to the other bed. Asuka was still asleep, so Morris guessed it must be early. He stood up and walked out of the door. He turned around to see a large troop of staff, all staring in horror at him. Morris sighed as he too late realised what he had forgotten to do.

"Putting clothes on is an underrated practise." He murmured to himself as his cheeks burned red and he walked back in the apartment.

* * *

The rain that fell from the black clouds was vicious, smashing into the pebbles that Xiaoyu stood atop, looking around, waiting for her opponent. She slowed her breathing as the tension rose, clogging her neck. She knew what was coming. She knew the absurd skyscraper hairstyle, the patterned leather jacket, the roar of the beloved motorcycle. She looked to her opponent as he slowly emerged into the light, his unshaven face holding a smirk. Xiaoyu remembered that face as the face that stopped her from saving Jin. It was Paul Phoenix, the man who beat her at the final hurdle of the previous tournament.

"So, you came back. How did you lose this time, then?" Xiao asked, knowing that Paul, though he claimed to be the best fighter in the world, never actually won a tournament, usually due to unfortunate circumstances that always occurred, and man did he know it. He was considered jinxed by everyone on the fighting circuit, doomed never to win a tournament yet always winning fights.

"I fought Kazuya to a draw… AGAIN! It came down to a toss up and I chose tails. The stupid man couldn't flip it properly and I lost. But I'll win this time!" He shouted, punching the air above his head. Then Xiaoyu sniffed something odd. A smell that was somehow… pleasant. Xiaoyu put her head in one side.

"When did you start brushing your teeth?" She asked him. Paul waved his hand as her as if trying to swat a fly.

"Long and uncomfortable story, and while I remember, you might want to ask Bryan for your school uniform back." Xiaoyu opened her mouth to ask why, but Paul stopped her. "Seriously. Don't ask him about it."

"Fighters, are you ready?" Came the announcer's voice. Paul turned to the loud speaker.

"Just start, already!" Paul shouted. His wish was granted as the bell sounded. Paul started with a hammer to power punch, both of which Xiaoyu dodged with practised speed. The wind that slashed through the air was a knife blade as it passed by. Paul followed up his attacks with a low kick. He did not want to give Xiaoyu the pleasure of getting a chance to attack. He went into this battle deciding he would be persistent.

_Damn, this is fast! _Xiaoyu thought, spinning on her heel and cart wheeling away desperately. However, the pebbles beneath repeatedly gave way. Her feet fought for purchase on the unstable and weakened ground as it sank beneath them. _I'm wasting all my energy doing this. I have to attack NOW!_ She threw her palm out in her trade-mark Bayonet Punch. However, it relied all too much on a firm grip on the ground and she fell. She realised all too late her mistake. Paul used easy, quick and untiring attacks constantly, waiting for her to desperately attack, and falter in the process. For a man with a brain with only three functions (being think about beer, think about shouting and think about foxy ladies)Xiaoyu had to admit that this was beyond good tactics. And then her punishment for her mistake began.

Paul knew all too well the dangers of allowing an opponent the chance to place a good hit. All too many fights have been lost by a cheap punch to the jaw and BAM! Four seconds and you're out. So Paul refused to relent as his foot drove into Xiaoyu's back like a jackhammer. She screamed and she whimpered and she cried about how unfair he was, but hey, she was only a schoolgirl, or least she _looked_ like one. Paul allowed himself the pleasure to mentally repeat the events of the foyer meeting on the first fateful day of the tournament. Fur lined panties indeed! She couldn't be in high school, not at the ripe old age of nineteen!

Xiaoyu didn't not appreciate Paul's little giggle. God knows what he found so funny, but Xiaoyu refused to let herself be humiliated in public (even though her dress sense did that sufficiently on a daily basis). She clasped the attacking leg and drove it into Paul's hip joint. She heard the sharp snap of the cell membrane breaking and pressed on.

"Laugh it up!" She barked, driving the leg further into the joint. For all she cared, she would have snapped the bone and she wouldn't have noticed. No, she wanted Paul to say sorry. Paul then resisted, forcing the leg back into her. The stones parted beneath her feet and she was sent tumbling to the ground for a second time.

The two fighters got up together, smashing their heads together in a rather embarrassingly comical fashion. Xiaoyu was the latter of the two to recover, and man did Paul want her to know it, hammering her rib cage with a well placed stomach blow and rattling the organs almost out of place. Shock consumed Xiaoyu's body, so much so that the blow that sent her hurtling through the air was completely numbed. She spluttered her way onto her hands and knees as Paul approached slowly, careful not to fall, placing his feet lightly.

"I thought call girls weren't very good at fighting." Paul smirked his way through the insult, finally glad to place it somewhere. "I guess I was right, wasn't I?"

Xiaoyu's blood boiled. Her face went as red as the blood that seeped her nose. Morris! That bastard had a lasting effect, it seemed. The joke was still rank in her ears, a stinging joke that would never go away. Just like Morris himself, and not just because he smells worse than a turd spewed in vomit (Xiaoyu had spent many hours thinking of that one, hoping she could use it at some point, probably in front of him). It was the dogged tenacity of him. The persistent stubbornness that kept him coming back for more. That hammering he got from Julia could've killed him, and he pulled through somehow.

However, the one thing she hated about the insult was how Paul said it. As if it was fact. As if everyone knew it to be true. A tear welled as she batted it away. It trailed pathetically down her cheek. However, no others followed as they were choked back by a hard desperation and determination. Before, Panda and love for Jin were her motivations. However, with both of these, common sense shrouded them to black. She was a friend of the Mishima Zaibatsu, if her will had a price tag, she would have it fulfilled. Furthermore, she now had just about enough of people telling her that her love for Jin was just a high school crush, and that he was evil. Now she had something to fight for. She stood to her tallest, glaring at Paul.

"You're right in saying I'm no longer a school girl." She growled. Paul laughed at her attempt to be threatening. Then he choked as her hand smashed and clamped around his neck. She had been a good distance away, and suddenly her eyelashes brushed his as she snarled and stared. Her breath tasted of anger, of rage, like that of a furious animal. "Watch me grow up!"

The hammer blow Paul felt was a terrible tremor to his bones as he stooped his knees in pain, leaving himself open to the upcoming knee bash. Blood was drawn from his cheek as she forced him away. He looked to the glaring Xiaoyu, and for once considered her a woman rather than a girl.

_Jesus MC Christ! _He thought, tasting his own blood coming from the throbbing scar she had given him. _This girl's gone Popeye the Sailor Man on me! Well, she'll have to do better than that! I've beaten her before; I'll show as hell do it again! _He threw his fist for her, rising as he did. The punch found its target, but the rush of battle had left her standing. She grabbed the offending arm and twisted it violently.

The fury in the strikes that rose into Paul's back caused him to scream. He dropped to the floor, crawling away slightly for a chance to fight back. However, he knew it was a worthless effort. Xiaoyu had him now, and he felt the continued strikes fall down, his rage finally gave in. He had grown complacent during the fight, and now he had sunken into the pit that traps all too many fighters. A doubt. When the doubt hits you, you will not be able to continue. Paul felt one last foot strike onto his head and his vision faded to black.

* * *

Jinrei found Xiaoyu later. He barely recognised her without her pigtails. She had left the arena without a word. Everyone was silent when she walked through the changing room and into the gloomy rain. No sound was made. However, Jinrei had finally seen her by chance on a tall roof top. Where she stood, a tall and frightfully scorching fire blazed. He smelt the smell of burnt fabric. He looked to her in confusion. She didn't notice him.

"Xiao." He murmured, announcing his presence. Xiaoyu looked to him, and Jinrei nearly gasped at the angered expression on her face. Then he noticed the lack of her usual, distinguishing features. No eye shadow or make up of the kind. Her hair was no longer the pig-tailed neatened style he had grown accustomed to. Now it was loose, unruly and wild. Nothing to be expected, seeing as she had only just removed them seeing as it took not long for Jinrei to find her. Then there were the clothes. No pink. No frills. No fur. No school uniform. They were simplistic clothes, a shirt and some jeans. Nothing hip, nothing like Xiaoyu.

"Don't call me that." She said. "My school friends called me that when I was a child." Jinrei wondered what had brought this on. Had an acquaintance of hers from school offended her in some way, and forced her to hate them all. Then he looked to the bonfire. He recognised the items among the wreckage. They were her old clothes. Fur lined, checked, all that was associated with the young, carefree spirit that was Ling Xiaoyu. Then he realised.

"I have to beat Morris." She voiced his answer without prompting. "Not for Panda. Not for Jin. For me. For the world. To show that I've finally grown up." She looked to the fire. "And to beat him, I have to change what I am. I can't think about Jin or Panda everyday, as much as I care for them. No, this pest will be my worst nightmare if I'm not prepared, and until I become what I should've already become, I will never be prepared."

"Xiaoyu, change is nothing that occurs overnight." Jinrei began, but then he stopped. Xiaoyu's face had not changed, she had not stirred, yet Jinrei could see that her thoughts had hardened.

"No. But it has to start somewhere." She said. She held her the item she had held in her hand for the whole time. Jinrei saw them and gasped. Her panties, fur lined as Morris had indeed mentioned. Despite the silliness of them, they were beloved to her. To destroy these was to prove that she was finally letting go. She cast them into the flames furiously. "Let them burn!" She scowled.

* * *

Asuka watched all this on the bar's television screen. She sighed with relief to see Xiaoyu win. Though supporting her friend over her obstacles, knowing she's after Morris, was not easy, knowing that once Xiaoyu finally faced Morris that she would all her fury rain down on him like a torrent. And after seeing Julia's outburst towards him, with no good reason to actually hate him, suddenly Asuka felt a pang of pity, and started to even want Morris to win above Xiaoyu. Originally, her support for him was simply to help her beat Jin, how he did wasn't of any consequence. But now, she saw just how much the world was against him, and she couldn't help but sympathise.

"Hello." Came Morris' voice. Asuka turned around, glad to see him. Then she saw him, and regretted it. The sight of him was pitiful, paths that tears had travelled down painted across his face, his eyes watery pits of despair. He looked terrible, to say the least. A small dog in the corner whimpered mournfully. Morris looked to it, and smiled half-heartedly, bending down to it. "What are you so sad about, then?" The dog whimpered sympathetic, as if sad _for _Morris, who remained unfazed. Not cold, but just not showing any real emotion, a typical British reaction to anything. All the birds in the park opposite stopped fluttering joyfully and instead edged slowly toward the bar.

"Odd." Morris commented, sitting on the seat next to Asuka. He grinned merrily. "So, Asuka, on a scale on one to ten, how much to you want to get into my pants?"

"Morris, you look like shit." She replied. "What's wrong? Was it another nightmare?"

"Sort of. Actually, I smell like shit too, considering. I haven't showered in years. So, back to you, how's your life going?"

"Enough." Morris stopped at this. He looked into Asuka's eyes, and she stunned him with her stern distress for him. "You've had nightmares before and they haven't bothered you in the slightest until the mention of this '_Spike_' guy. Why are you so shook up and pretending not to be?" He sighed when she asked him. Her eyes searched for an answer as he bowed his head slightly. A tear welled, but he batted it away.

"I shouldn't be, that's the thing." He said before long. "It's just… I've not been totally truthful to you before. There's another reason I left England. My mum died. And don't say sorry, ok? This happened ages ago, more than ten years, when I was young. I've long gotten over it." Morris looked blank for a small while, as if his mind was travelling. "At least I think so."

Asuka didn't reply. She couldn't. The bluntness of the statement, the emotionlessly vague explanation of past events, the gravity of the happenstance. She couldn't process the information. She knew that most people got over a death in the family fairly quickly. It's sad, it sinks in, and the pain fades. Though still, Asuka's brain could not understand how uncaring Morris seemed about the situation. And the blank stare afterward. It was hauntingly depressing. He acted as if it was a passing thing, an event which sinks painfully into your mind set then leaves as soon as it comes. But Asuka knew it must be more. Something about that had come back to haunt him, and she wanted to at the very least help.

"Christ, Morris, I... don't know what to say." She blurted out.

"No." Morris remained vacant. He seemed to have entered a completely different world. "I've asked myself that since I was eight, and I still don't." Asuka placed her hand on his shoulder. He smiled to her. She smiled back.

"Don't pretend not to be sad." She said, stroking his shoulder caringly. "It's only natural to be. And, how well you've handled it so far, I'm not sure how you cope. It'll only hurt more if you hold it back." Morris stared to her. "What?" She asked him as he seemed interested in a small detail on her face.

"You still haven't answered my question. Would you like to sleep with me?" Asuka rolled her eyes. _Well, so much for not coping with it, Morris,_ she thought, though she remained silent. Then Morris snapped his fingers. "I almost forgot." He turned to the barman. "Could you open safeB3, the combination is four anti-clockwise, two clockwise, seven anti-clockwise and one clockwise." The barman raised an eyebrow.

"That account hasn't been opened in more than twenty eight years." The barman pointed out. Morris looked around.

"Oh, sorry, I was waiting for something for that to be relevant. Chop chop." He said. Asuka looked to him. "There's a letter for you. I'm not supposed to read it, so it was stuck in a safe." He received a brown envelope, having been browned by years of neglect. He handed it to Asuka, seemingly surprised. "Well, that proves it."

"Proves what?" She asked.

"I'm a time traveller!" Morris shouted, then he closed his eyes and crossed his fingers. Asuka raised her eyebrows. "Aaaaaaaaaaaand… 1959 Audrey Hepburn!" He shouted, looking to her excitedly. Asuka's jaw dropped. "Well, so what if I'm attracted to ridiculously super famous dream women? It was her or Ursula Undress…" The pause alone made Asuka smirk. The childish look on Morris' face told her what was coming.

"Yes, yes, or me, I know, I know." She pushed him away as he opened his mouth, carefully opening the letter. Then her jaw dropped…. Again. For in the neatest of handwriting were wrote the most worrying words she had ever seen, particularly words from twenty eight years ago.

_Jinrei means Morris nothing but harm. KEEP AWAY FROM HIM!_

_Looking forward to hearing from you. Love and kisses._


	6. Suspicions Arise

**Chapter 6 – Suspicions Arise**

**Author's Note: I should get the next chapter up in the next week.**

* * *

The morning sun gently shrouded the city of Tokyo in a golden shroud, causing the otherwise pale faces of the people below to finally hold some colour at last. Morris remained in the blackness of the shadows as awoke. He looked around. The porcelain white walls of the large, overpowering room gave him a very nasty case of agoraphobia. The dark of the underneath of the blanket held calming warmth as he curled even further into his comatose of comfort. He felt he deserved a little comfort after the madness that ensued in his nightmares. Images with nothing of them, the sounds distorted and incoherent. And then…

_Don't! Please, for the love of all the heavens, anything but…_

_BOOM_

The gunshot was a nasty touch on the whole thing. Morris wasn't quite sure of what he was hearing, but something about his nightmares of late gave him a clue. He curled even further into the blanket, half asleep and half awake, his nerves a wreck and his mind confused.

"Morris!" The slam of the door, the flurry of fabric and the sudden fact that he was now standing up did nothing to wake Morris up, though his mind certainly raced to find the solution to the disturbance of the warm, dark peace. He looked to Asuka, who was literally forcing his clothes onto him.

"Asuka, calm down, what's up?" He asked, with a mouldy sock in his mouth. Asuka pushed him into the corridor.

"Your fight. It's right now." She explained, jamming the cape around his neck, pulling it harshly as they got into the lift. Morris choked.

"And you didn't wake me up earlier because?"

"Believe me, I tried." She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him out into the foyer. "If I told you I hit you with a brick, would you believe me?" Morris looked to her. She looked back but he said nothing, a smirk growing on his face. "What?"

"And how long have we been married?" He asked. Asuka rolled her eyes.

"Oh fuck you, I'm not doing this for fun, you know." She replied.

"Then why _are_ you doing it?" Asuka didn't reply. Morris's smirk grew more. "Asuka loves Morris, Asuka loves Morris." He sang with the glee and maturity of a small child. Asuka snorted through her nostrils. "Asuka and Morris, sitting in a tree. F.U.C…"

"I think you've got more things to think about than the function of your dick." She murmured. Morris looked to her.

"Like what?" She dropped him. Morris heard her choke back a tear. "Asuka?"

"Morris, what's your problem?" She shouted, looking to him. "All the weird shit that's been going on with you! The Cloud Taste, the animals, the random bouts of strength, the nightmares, your mum. Sometimes you act as if you're fucking possessed, and when I try to help you, you simply blank, avoid giving a real answer and babble about how much you want to get into somebody else's pants! Please, if something's wrong with you, tell me! I want to help you!"

Morris stared back, unable to answer. He felt as if he had just been hit with a brick. Asuka fell to her knees, tears in her eyes. "Please, Morris. What's wrong?" Morris remained silent, completely emotionless. He wiped a tear away from her eye.

"Where the bloody hellfire did that come from?" He asked. She began wiping tears herself and pulled herself up, leading Morris to the arena.

"No, I'm sorry." Asuka explained. "It's just… you're so…" She had trouble finding a word, it seemed. "You flip, sometimes. You're joking away or you're fighting or you're licking the furniture and suddenly SNAP you've got a completely different attitude and you'll stare into space for hours on end."

"It's called emotion, Asuka." Morris said, looking to her, his smirk returning like a boomerang on an elastic band. "You know, that thing that we mere mortals have. I suppose you wouldn't understand, though." A harsh punch to the forearm made him wince.

"Oh really?" She glowered half-heartedly. Morris smiled.

"Get in-between me and my sheets and I'll show you a few other things we mere mortals know about." He said, causing Asuka to laugh slightly.

"A sex joke after a mere two minutes from waking up?" She asked. Morris looked around him as they walked into the marble arch that was the doorway for fighters into the arena. "Oh, and speaking of sex jokes, when you go in, don't say a word."

"Why not?"

"You'll see in a bit."

A field of stone. No rocks rose above the green less ground. The arena was heavy with artificial fog, a grey empty void that chilled Morris to the bone. The cracked cement and the lingering of broken glass gave the scene an additional depth of misery. No sound was made, even by the audience. The eerie silence was a heavy feeling. The dread of being alone. Morris gulped. He bent down, observing a small flower. Wilted, dead, alone. He lifted it upright with his finger. It simply fell back.

"Morris, you're cutting the circulation of from my hand. Stop it." He looked to Asuka, and then to his hand, which was white with terror and tightly clinging to her own. Morris relaxed and withdrew his hand. She bent down. "You alright? You've gone into that whole stare-into-nothingness thing again."

"Heihachi certainly loves making a big impression." He said. He looked around. Then he noticed something. "Wait a mo." He walked over quickly to a small rock.

"What is it?" Asuka asked him. He looked to her.

"It's a small rock." He said. Asuka rolled her eyes. "It's a very nice small rock?" Morris tried. Asuka punched his arm, which was pretty sore now, the amount of times Asuka had punched it. Then she saw something. A flicker of colour. A blood red cloth. She grabbed it. She looked to it. She held in a gasp and fell to the floor in terror. Black ink was stained onto it.

_You better remember what I told you, Kazama Asuka._

Morris helped her up. "What's that?" He asked. Asuka looked to him.

"Just a bit of cloth." She said, discarding it and allowing the wind to take it away. "Nothing more." She peered into the fog. "There's your opponent."

Morris's jaw dropped to the floor. The sight that he stared at was like no other. He was sure that people like that didn't exist. He thought they were in the back of some fat old guy's mind, not a professional fighter. A body curved like the wind, skin as dark as the bark of the tree native to her lands, hair flying through the wind like a flag. Christie raised her eyebrow at Morris' dumbstruck face.

"What?" She asked. Morris looked to Asuka.

"Asuka, if I die, swear to me that you will make out with her over my carcass." He told her. He looked to Christie, and then noticed he was quite literally drooling. "I haven't even unzipped, and already I've already wet myself."

"I can't see why." Asuka mumbled. Morris looked to her, stunned. "What is so amazing about her?"

"She's built like a bong with two basketballs nailed to it and hasn't heard of clothes?" He suggested. Christie's face contorted with more and more anger.

"And you resemble a model of twigs and haven't heard of deodoriser or self restraint." Asuka replied.

"You, a hairstyle that looks like a roof and have never heard of moral consistency." Asuka was taken aback by this sharp attack from Morris. "Hi, I'm Asuka. Don't you dare look my massive and perfectly formed tits which I have emphasized with my bra-shirt and have unzipped my jacket to show off to the world. Stop punching people or I'll hospitalise you! Morris, stop having emotional outbursts at times, wah wah wah wah wah!" This he emphasized with his mouth opening and shutting in time with his own words.

"Hello, I'm Morris. I'm a noble guy, honest, the chronic drinking and the obsession with my non-existent sex life is simply a speech impediment of mine. Gee, a problem. What do I do? I know. If I can't drink it, eat it, spend it or sleep with it then I'll just ignore it."

"Bloody low, Asuka. That's really low."

"And you calling Xiaoyu a prostitute isn't?"

"Oh, come on, as if I was lying, she's nineteen and she still wears a bloody school uniform."

"And as if I was lying about you ignoring stuff and pretending they don't affect you when you're being torn apart."

"Lovely, Asuka, bring up a death in the family; why not stab my dog while you're at it!"

"How long have you two been married?" Christie asked. Asuka and Morris stared at each other bewildered for a good while. Asuka was the first to smirk surprisingly. Then Morris sniggered through his nose, trying hard not to submit. Finally, they both snapped, their mouths echoing the great trumpets of pent-up laughter. Looking back, the two had decided that it wasn't that funny, but it certainly broke the ice. The bell rang, unnoticed by Morris, who got a nasty and sharp bolt from the blue from Christie's thunderous kick that rocketed him across the field in shock. He remained still from the impact, before arising.

"So, you want it, you got it." He barely spluttered before Christie tackled him viciously. However, the shock impact wouldn't remain twice, for Morris stood and the initiative was lost. Morris replied the tackle with a strong double fisted attack, ripping through the air and hammering into Christie's belly from bellow like missiles. She lost her breath, and Morris gave her not a quarter of a second before his next strike came, a brutal kick to the shoulder as Christie fell onto her knee. She now was on her bum, her advantage of surprise lost. Morris stayed back, however. He had given a nasty trip to Julia when he was in Christie's position, and he refused to let his own tricks fool him.

His reluctance to press and his fear of a vicious counter was to be the weapon Christie used against him, however, as she flipped over into a handstand, her legs spread out like a helicopter's propellers. Morris laughed.

"What's the plan?" He asked. "Get a higher score at the Olympics than me?" Then she spun, her leg smashing his own into the air, his body twisting in the breeze. She pressed on, sending limb after limb after limb into the flailing airborne Morris, who was yet to land as her repeated strike held him aloft. She finally, after a good few seconds of relentless attacked, curled up into an upright foetal position and straitening her legs stiffly, rocketing herself into the air before she came crashing down onto Morris. He yelped in pain as his back strained to remain in one piece. He flipped himself over, but Christie was the manoeuvrable one of the two, hammering the tips of her toes into the ground, controlling her fall back onto the unready Morris. Despite the pain, he giggled slightly.

"I can feel your knockers." He told her discreetly. He was lying, but, as he expected, she jumped off in horror and screamed in disgust. Then Morris pushed off the floor with his arms, smashing his head right into hers, the initiative won by Morris once more. He then threw punches in her direction, some hitting the face, some the shoulders, but a lot more missing. He was dazed by the head-butt, which had filled his senses with noise, his ears were ringing, his eyes blurred, his nose blood filled and his throat gagging for air. He swung wildly, hoping that would mean that she wouldn't be able to get near until he got a his sense back into focus and could attack for real. Christie was in a similar state, Morris knew, but the lack of contact made him guess that she was conserving her strength.

Then he felt them. Four shock blows, Christie's body flying through the air, somersaulting and sending her feet into his head on all four strikes. First, bringing them down upon his head, the next her heels crashing into his bowed head, the third to the side and the last to shatter whatever remained of his senses. He stood somehow, unconscious of doing so, as his body went completely limp besides his legs, which danced to support his collapsing form.

_Spike, this is a really…_

"Spike?" He murmured, his feet letting go. He was on his knees. He looked up to Christie. He sniggered slightly. "Cleavage." He didn't quite realise he had said it, until he felt a slap and finally realised that he was bleeding, and bleeding badly. Christie remained completely untouched by blood, though some bruises were glaring through her dark skin.

_Spike, no!_

Morris looked for the source of the voice. He had heard it around him. It wasn't in his head, he was sure of it. _Then he noticed for the first time that he was completely alone. The arena was completely empty. Then he saw them. Spike and his apprentice. She was still her same self, though Spike had a pretty scratch on his cheek. He had been fighting again, it seemed. Morris stood and made his way toward them, the pain of the action near breaking him. He looked around, and noticed that the arena was indeed there, but under construction. Great towers of scaffolding reached for the sky but were held down by stone and by brick. The stony ground was as cold as it was, or would be as were the case._

"_Spike, I don't want to do this." The student moaned, her blindfold being tightened by Spike._

"_Well, you need to know how important sensitivity is, and I think blindfolding is a funny thing to do." He said. He kicked her shin lightly. "Stance." He murmured. She suddenly folding herself into a defensive position. Spike stood back and drew a small cricket ball. He threw it at the girl as hard as he could, and it hammered into her. It bounced back. Spike looked to Morris and scowled slightly. "You again." He threw the ball again, not even looking to the target._

"_What's up, sexy boy?" Morris said icily. He watched as Spike caught the ball, eyes on him still. "How was her date?"_

"_Eh, she said it was alright." Again the ball was cast; again the girl yelped in pain; again Spike caught it without a glance. "I'm more interested in what you have to say."_

"_I don't know what to say." Morris answered. This time, he caught the ball due to a bad throw on the girl's part. He didn't notice, it was just something he did. He passed it gently to Spike, who threw it like a thunderbolt. "You kill my mother. Simple as. Get over it. I did… or will, I'm not quite sure."_

"_How about a reason for it?" Spike said angrily. The ball was thrown by him with greater force now. "When I find out that in the future I'm going to do something horrible like that, I don't just 'get over it' and by the sounds of it, you still aren't. Or won't be, it confuses me, too."_

"_Fine, I'll admit that I'm not over it, but I know it was for a good reason." Morris replied. "She wanted… wants… whatever; I just haven't brought myself to hate her for it."_

"_Should you?" Spike asked. He caught the ball inches from his face. He looked back and smiled slightly. "Nice catch!" He shouted, throwing it back as fast as a lightening bolt. He waited. "That… wasn't as good." He looked back to Morris, who was still._

"… _she did it to help me, but it was really stupid…" He murmured to himself. Spike softened slightly. Morris looked hurt. He walked over._

"_Hey, dude, don't worry about it." He said. "Don't try to get over stuff when you're not ready to, ok? Just give it time." Morris looked up, catching the ball and throwing it back and a deliberate curve. It ricocheted off the ground and hit the girl's right side._

"_It doesn't matter right now." He said. "I'm more concerned with why these dream journeys are happening. They always pop up just when I'm about to have my arse handed to me or during my dreams."_

"_Wait, they're helping you win fights?" Spike asked, throwing the ball back without a thought. "Then why are you worried? What's the problem?"_

"_I don't trust them." Morris answered. "I also think your friend Wang Jinrei might have something to do with it." Spike laughed._

"_That old windbag? HA! What for? Sure, he's a moron and gives no iota for the welfare of others so long as his little feud with the supernatural, he's crazy you see, he sees devils and shit all over the bloody place, is over, but he wouldn't try to kill you through dream journeys even if he could. He can be a little cold, but he's overall doing it for others, and he's certainly not evil."_

"_Well what if he thought that I could stop a devil?" He asked. Spike's eyes filled with horror. He caught the ball but held it._

"_What…" He asked. Morris bit his own lip, thinking of something to say._

"_Well, I met this chick…" He started, but Spike had guessed already. He moaned, throwing the ball back angrily._

"_A Kazama? Really? Brilliant, fan-tabby-dozy, the only people who buy into Wang's nonsense!" He growled. "Morris, I know the Kazamas well. I love the barmy lot, in fact, but watch out because when Kazamas are involved, there is bound to be trouble." He didn't catch the ball that smacked straight into him._

"_Didn't see that, did you?" The girl shouted. "Spike, you're losing your sensitivity."_

"_I'm going to kill you…" He shouted back jokingly. Then he did what was in Morris's opinion a very strange thing. He ripped a bit of his shirt off and began to write on it with a Sharpie. He looked to Morris. "What's 'er name?"_

"_Asuka, though what has she got to do with any of this?" He said. "Last time I saw her, she didn't look as loony as Jinrei."_

"_Asuka with a 'u', isn't it?" Spike asked. Morris nodded. Spike then looked about himself. "You're fading." He said. Morris sighed._

"_Back to a losing fight again."_

"_Will saying sensitivity over and over help?"_

"_Can't do any harm."_

"_Well, then…" Spike cleared his throat, only to look back and see that Morris was gone. He sighed. "See you later, then."_

"_Who are you talking to?" Came a voice. Spike turned. Heihachi's growl was recognisable even if he was underwater._

"_The girl." He turned to see that the girl was waiting for a signal to be dismissed. "Go on then. Off wi' ya." She left. Spike turned around, getting into a fighting stance. "So, old man."_

"_I'm fifty. It's not that old."_

"_SO OLD MAN!" Heihachi's face went red. "You need _more _training already? You're losing your edge." Heihachi went even redder. "Worried Kazuya'll beat you badly?" Heihachi was now redder than a tomato covered in ketchup on a sunny day. "Setting up a whole tournament just to get rid of him? Hoping someone else will beat him, a better fighter than you?"_

"_You know, you should be glad that you're so important, otherwise I'd have you killed right now." _

"_Am I really that important? All we do is train and design arenas. Kazuya's no concern of mine." Heihachi was now an astonishingly beautiful shade of light purple. All of his willpower was committed to not killing Spike were he stood. Spike was brilliant for Heihachi. He kept tabs on Jinrei for him, and the best of all was that he didn't even think that the devil gene existed. A perfect spy. He thought he was defending Heihachi's wellbeing, or at least his corporate wellbeing, from a crazy old man who thought that devil existed, and completely oblivious to the fact that they do. And if he ever did find out, he'd probably just help Heihachi keep people like Kazuya from becoming devils anyway. It was a win-win situation for Heihachi._

Morris was not in a win-win situation. He found himself on his knees. He dropped his arms. Christie smiled, raising her foot.

"Two minutes. The quickest win I've ever had." She said. Her foot ploughed towards Morris dangerously.

_Block, salute, trap, attack._

Morris had a routine that he followed religiously, the four steps of any counter-attack. Since he was five, he had used this method against his father, then people at school, then anyone who got too close. Morris told himself that he must never strike first. The initiative was not granted to the first to attack but the first to strike, as while aggression was the key to any fight, initiative and surprise were far more important. Morris could catch a ball before it was thrown. He did this until he needn't see what the strike was or where it came from, it was just sensitivity, the awareness of space, and Asuka noticed that his eyes were closed as the strike came for him.

Christie's leg was flung to the side, stomping onto the ground painfully before a rocket of a punch came howling in the space of her legs. She screamed in agony. Morris stood fully, smirking.

"Funny how it hurts so much even without a scrotum, isn't it?" He taunted. "Now if only I could think of a half decent pun to accompany that strike." Christie growled.

"You fucking prick." She scowled, charging for him. He curled his arm around hers and clashed with her chin. His arm was hurt, but he now had the ideal hold for a one handed throw and punch. He swung her around himself, dragging her to the ground, coating her face with dust. He stood tall as he could, locking her arm out, making any attempt to break out the hold require Herculean might. His fist punched the body lightly a few times, looking for a weak point. Then he found it. The connection between the shoulder and the neck had a great bruise across it. May have been hurt in the fight earlier, or in a previous fight. He punched with all his strength. Christie yelped once and slammed her free hand down in surrender.

"Not the quickest fight I had, myself." Morris said to the annoyed Christie, whose bloody and battered form was in great pain. He held out his hand. She shook it limply, disappointed for the stolen last-minute victory. Asuka ran to Morris.

"That looked nasty at points." She commented. "A quick fight, to be sure, but brutal. You look worse for wear than she does, you know."

"Eh, I've had worse beatings." He said. "She's hard to hit once she gets the first hit in, I'll give credit where credit's due. Now…" He turned to Asuka. "… when Jinrei babbles about devils, what does he mean and why would he want me dead over it?" Asuka looked to Morris.

"Morris, where did…" She looked around. She scanned the crowd for Jinrei. "Did Jinrei say something crazy to you? Did you see him?"

"No, I don't trust him, and I'd like to know what the term 'devil' means." Asuka shook her head.

"Look, Morris, Jinrei isn't a murderer. He'd never kill." She thought for a short while. "Everyone said that I should take his devil speak seriously, no matter how crazy it sounds."

"Do you?"

"… sort of. Some of my family takes it way too literally. It's a metaphor of such, my life on it. Remember when you said Jin had DID? I think that's what Jinrei means, his nastier devilish side."

"Spike knew Jinrei." Morris said. "He was brutally honest. Jinrei is nuttier than fruit cake followed by a bag of KP and a side order of Waldorf salad." Asuka looked as if she was going to laugh, but was still stern.

"You seriously think…"

"Nah. I think Jinrei's delusions of devilry have some truth, but he's blown it out of proportion. Jin does sound more monster than man from what you've told me, I wouldn't blame somebody for mistaking the two." Morris answered. "But for Jinrei it's further than that. I think he thinks that I'm part of some great scheme, and I think that if push came to shove, he'd probably kill me to supposedly save others." Asuka bit her lip. Her gut wanted to tell Morris about her little messages, but she thought that she would have to wait for the best moment. She considered the two options.

"Morris… I've got to tell you something. Something big…" She murmured. Then reconsidered it. "… but not right now. I'm going to wait for a better time for it." She said. Morris and Asuka looked to the featureless void. The crowds were dissipating, but they were mostly ignored by the two. They looked to a figure that stood there, watching them, waiting. The fog cleared slightly, and they saw a scowling figment of raw anger. It watched them. The hair was neck length, twisting in the breeze, a red bandanna holding it down. The once porcelain skin was now of a much redder skin tone, a dark Caucasian. The jacket was simple, the trousers simple, nothing of note, besides the expression. The expression spoke with a million words. A torrent of hatred, of anger, of broken pride, disgraced superiority. It was in a battle stance, arms with heavy cloth bands. The audience turned back. An official match was controlled. Brutal, sure, but tamed to a degree. Unofficial fights were not uncommon in the King of Iron Fist. Many were simply training fights, others the settling of feuds when one or both of the revenge-seekers had been defeated, or simple fights that occur over little or nothing. This, though, was something that was known to be destructive. It was a challenge. It was a revenge match like no other. It had no impact on the tournament, but it was exciting and brutal. All eyes remained on the figure.

"Morris." Xiaoyu said, unrecognisable without the frills and absurd fashion. "I need to practise for our fight at the end of the tournament." Her eyes hardened. Morris put a smirk on to give himself confidence, though in reality shook. She looked ready to kill.

"Shall we, little girl?" He asked. Xiaoyu hardened even more. Morris's smirk faded into fear. He suddenly thought that this was no girl.

"I've grown up."


	7. Liar, Odious, Rancorous, Murderer

**Disclaimer: Don't they realise it's **_**me, **_**projecting my thoughts and powers? I **_**commanded **_**that infernal imp to capture that bandit?**

**Author's Note: October 2009 - "I should be able to get the next chapter out in the next week."**

**It is now a whole new year. I'm a fucking moron.**

**Chapter 7 – Liar, Odious, Rancorous, Murderer**

* * *

Pillars of fog and wind rose and spiralled lazily upward to the grey sky. The chilled wind flowed through the air like a blade, thinner than death's scythe and just as cold. The dust danced above the ground a little while, calmly, serenely, unexcitedly. The lark sang trill and high, echoes of the song wailing through the arena. The whole atmosphere was tense, calm and restrained.

Morris's blonde hair danced in the wind, having grown since the start of the tournament. Now his hair was a lot more prominent than before, the thin moss-like tangles being replaced by a slightly thicker head of hair. His bones still showed through his now somewhat clean clothes, but they were more subtle. His life had been turned upside down since meeting Asuka. He had rediscovered comfortable living, and he had at first refrained, claustrophobic and gasping for air. Now he had grown used to it. Now he felt he had to win, if only to keep the now more preferable future than to what lied before him.

Only Xiaoyu's blood boiling kept her warm in the cold atmosphere. Her fists were clenched to the point of drawing blood from the palm; her eyes were like violent starlets glaring toward Morris. Her hair was tidy, shorter than before. Her bandanna was as red as her fiery blood that pumped through her heart, threatening to break away. Her anger was rampant. She didn't want to win. She didn't want to beat Morris. She wanted to beat him badly. She wanted to make him look weak. She wanted to destroy him. She wanted to _humiliate _him.

Morris wasn't nearly as stimulated.

"So, you're thick as well as flat as two short planks." He waited for a reaction from his opponent, but none came. He decided to try again. "I mean, come on, I'm a guy, and I _still _have bigger tits than you." He grabbed his chest desperately. "Check out these milk factories! You jealous yet?" No sign of anger came from Xiaoyu. He snarled. "No wonder you object to being called a call girl. Considering your looks, you wouldn't get any calls!"

"Morris, why does your world revolve around breasts?" Asuka turned to him, sighing slightly. He looked to her. "Morris, stop staring." He moved his hand towards her chest slowly. She smiled and batted it away jokingly.

"Boobies..." Morris murmured, drooling as he did. Then he suddenly, like a gust of wind, was behind Asuka. "Oi! Xiaoyu, you stupid cow, I've got a little re-enactment of your dreams." Before Asuka knew what was happening, she found Morris's hands pressed against her breasts. "I'll pretend Asuka is you, and I'm Jin!" Then, clearing his throat, he put on the girliest voice he could. "Oh, Jin, I so wanna bone you."

Xiaoyu began her march towards Morris. He had brought crushes up. He'd pay. Asuka was too stunned to react to her contribution to the insult, even as Morris's voice suddenly went as deep as it would go.

"I don't know why, Xiaoyu." He slurred. "Morris is so much handsome. You, him, Asuka and Christie should totally get a room together. You can watch while the other three have all the…"

Morris never finished. He was sent rocketing into the floor, for Xiaoyu had leapt up to an impressive height and landed her feet straight into his face. He flipped over before she could land on his sprawling form, and punched back. The two recovered to full height. Asuka rushed between them to stop the fight, birds and dogs and many an animal formed a line between the two fighters, but nothing would stop the two.

"Morris, you're dead." Xiaoyu said. Asuka looked between the two.

"Don't… do this…" She said. "Xiaoyu, he saved Panda's life, and Morris, you shouldn't call her a whore." She waited for a reaction. Morris stared through her, fixated on Xiaoyu.

"HEADS UP, MOTHERFUCKER!"

* * *

He would light the match from the other end of the room. He would throw it with expert precision. It saved time, it kept him trained, but, most of all, it relaxed him. He never knew why. Maybe the incense started burning quicker, maybe he had just grown accustomed to it, but it calmed him. Wang Jinrei had always lit the incense candle like this. He smiled as he sat down and turned thought after thought over in his head.

_Spike's nephew… _He closed his eyes. _… is here. _He breathed out slowly. _He'll only get himself killed. _He breathed in, and out again. _What was Asuka thinking? For the best? She should have thought all of this through before sending innocent lives into the fray…_ His vision turned from black slowly to white. _I wish I knew what to do. I wish I had advice._

"_Actually, that's what I've come to you for, Master." Came a familiar voice._

_Jinrei turned his head within his dreamscape, and was astounded. He had seen Jun often within here, her raven black hair glimmering within the wind, her eyes glittering like diamonds, her body short, her atmosphere pure, just as she had been in life. Her lips full, her nose small, her muscles smooth and yet powerful. It was the solidity of her that shocked Jinrei. She had sometimes been ethereal, most of the time visible but still not a presence. Now she looked as if she were there. She smiled._

"_Master, why do you stare?" She asked._

"_I've never seen you this solid. If I reached out, I'm sure I would touch you." He said. Then he looked down and frowned slightly. "And I wasn't expecting the nudity." Jun looked down at herself, and turned her back to him, giggling sheepishly. But in this flash of embarrassment, Jinrei noticed something about Jun. She didn't look as pure as before either. She looked somewhat darker, somewhat more tainted. Even when she was no longer a virgin, she held a purity of sorts, a heart that was pure as that of an angel, but now there was an air. A unnerving air. He decided not to voice this, but he kept on guard._

"_I'm sorry, Master. I hadn't known." As she explained, a white sheet fell from the sky. She began to wrap it around herself. "But yes, I am more solid than before. Things have been set into motion recently. Great things. Disastrous and wondrous things." She turned to him. "And I'm afraid that, without great care, many will die."_

"_What things?" He asked. Then he thought. "The devil. He'll be either defeated or victorious." Jun nodded. Jinrei's brow knotted. "Will Xiaoyu be hurt?"_

"_Not by devil if we win, but by another." To this, Jinrei chuckled slightly._

"_Morris?" Jinrei asked. "The man is an idiot."_

"_He is a Wellington." She said. "Wellingtons are never to be trusted. Even now, Xiaoyu is becoming something else. She is hurt and will be hurt again. She is changing, for better and worse."_

"_One of my greatest friends was a Wellington, Jun." He said. "He taught and raised a young girl. He did treat her as if she were his own. He loved her. He would've died for her, and I'm sure he would now."_

"_I knew that student." Jun answered. "Her love was destroyed by him. Tricked by the liar. The thief." She turned back. "The murderer…" Jinrei's eyes widened._

"_No, not Spike." He said. "He acts without thinking, yes, but never murder. He is a good man."_

"_He has taken lives." She told him. "One was his own sister." Jinrei stood shocked. His silence was the reply Jun needed to continue. "One was of…" She sniffed, unable to say. "He killed somebody who I loved with all my heart. He took a revolver and simply pulled the trigger, unthinking and uncaring."_

"_Jun, he would never…" Jinrei began, finding he couldn't answer. The two just stood, staring at each other, the white void simply adding the ear-piercing silence._

* * *

Morris and Xiaoyu literally jumped into each other over Asuka, Xiaoyu using her acrobatics to attack Morris with kicks and punches, Morris simply hoping to slam into her. A well placed kick from Xiaoyu landed straight into Morris's stomach, but he used this to his advantage, plummeting and landing perfectly, with Xiaoyu slapping down onto the cold, unfeeling earth. She rolled instinctively, dodging the stomp. Her two rising punches found their mark, pushing Morris back.

"Idiot." She screamed, sending foot and fist at the crouched object of hatred, who retaliated with block, trap and grapple. Morris defended every blow, waiting for a tire from Xiaoyu, waiting for a chance to hammer home and end the fight. Asuka watched in panic.

"Guys, stop!" She barked, ignored by the two fighters. Then the animals came forth, as if on her whim, and began to try and bite at the two. Xiaoyu flung herself down. Morris looked to what she was dodging and met several pounds of falcon smacking into him. He roll away, to find a dog in front.

"Move it!" He shouted, shouldering past for a good strike at Xiaoyu, who was rolling, flipping and dancing lightly. It wasn't a demanding task, but Morris couldn't see her loose, dancing form. Finally, he decided to guess. Launching a boot to her moving form. It missed and broke the stone underneath, slate rising upward. One of the rising stones smacked Xiaoyu in the face, scarring her across her small, nose and drawing a tear.

"Fucker!" She said. Morris smiled.

"Cute. Baby's first naughty word. Now you can impress all your friends at school."

This insult, this reference to her age, even when was only a year her senior, tipped Xiaoyu over the edge, from boiling rage to a blind insanity. Morris was less than prepared for the incoming onslaught, a fire of fists, anger and screams. The birds flew around them, swooping in to stop the chaos, but to no avail. It was brutal and painful for Morris, who suffered blow after charged fiery blow. He prepared his fist for a counter strike.

"Stop it, 'fore one of you gets killed!" Finally, Asuka flung herself in-between the two. Morris' fist stopped in midair, pulling back, but Xiaoyu's kept going, smashing into his chin, the raw shock of the punch stunning him. He fell back onto his feet. Asuka held him upright. "You've got to stop. Both of you!" She turned to Xiaoyu. "Leave it, Morris was already hurt by that last…"

"You know what?" Morris stood to full height, which wasn't much but made him feel stronger anyway. "Let's blow this completely out of proportion." He then opened his trousers up from the waist. "Pel-vic…" He waited for dramatic affect, pulling his hips back as far as they could. " – thrust!" As he propelled his abdomen forward, four small pillars of steel arose from the trousers and flew high. At their highest point, they dropped simply, two in Xiaoyu's hands and two in Morris'. Xiaoyu looked to them. They were great cutting knives, the blades slightly rusted, the hilts rotted to a degree, but overall in good condition.

"Morris, that's insane." Asuka told him, but Morris felt he was on a roll. He moved her to the side.

"I don't want you running in halfway through. These are sharp, and I'm not too fond of doing a Mercutio." Asuka found herself smiling at the gallantry, but quickly thought better and tried to protest. However, Morris was concentrated on Xiaoyu, too much so to listen to sense. "So, Flatty McStupid. How about it? Want to be absolutely bonkers rather than just PMSing like you've been doing?" Xiaoyu didn't reply, but simply charged at him. His swords span and danced in his hands.

"Let's get funky." He said.

Morris and Xiaoyu rolled around Asuka, contacting each other and their blades. The slashes found their target, the chorus of metal ringing like church bells in the vastness of the place. The raw brutality of the attacks was enough to force even the well safe audience to move back. Asuka watched, waiting for a safe point to intervene. All the animals surrounded, seemingly thinking the same thing. What they were witness to was clear. This wasn't a fight. This was something else.

Morris's foot cracked the ground as his feet danced as fast as his arms, crossing Xiaoyu's in some twisted, horrid waltz, as the two duelled. His sword held for a moment against Xiaoyu's, his second holding her second. He suddenly felt a tugging at his trousers. He stepped back without looking to hear the yelp of a dog. Xiaoyu looked away for a second, and Morris forced the swords further to her.

"Give up, bitch!" He said through gritted teeth.

"Cute. Morris's 1000th naughty word. Your mom must be happy."

Morris's arms dropped in shock, the words hitting harder than any of the strikes and attacks, and Xiaoyu went for it, slashing at his shoulders swiftly and neatly. He screamed in agony and fell onto his knees. Xiaoyu laughed as she stood back to savour the taste.

"Idiot!" She shouted, kicking him harshly. Asuka came forward.

"Xiaoyu, stop!" She barked, but Xiaoyu didn't listen. She was getting into this, and enjoyed every minute. Suddenly, Morris's blades flung upwards, cracking against Xiaoyu's own with a horrific wail. The clanks and shatters were deafening, and the two looked like they were about to kill one another.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Asuka suddenly shouted, leaping forward and trying to push Morris out of the way. She pushed through the whirlwind of blades, and Morris's eyes immediately lit. His blades stopped an inch from her face, and his arms dropped in terror.

"Cutting it a bit fine, there!" He remarked. Then he realised that Xiaoyu's blades hadn't stopped. She was swinging around, and hadn't seen Asuka. Her blades rocketed towards Morris's stomach, and by extension Asuka. Asuka looked to Xiaoyu before suddenly falling forward, in a stinging pain. She looked back. Morris had kicked her, kicked her out of the line of blades and taking the full brunt of the attack. He staggered back painfully.

"Moron!" She smacked Morris to the floor with a well aimed boot. He rolled on his stomach. "How does that feel, Morris?"

"Stop…" He groaned. Xiaoyu danced around him. She was giggling and howling with laughter, knowing she had humiliated him, drawn surrender out of him. She leaned in.

"What was that, Wellington! I didn't hear it!" She howled. Morris got to his hands and looked to her straight in the eye, now his eyes charged with the same hatred as hers.

"Stop…" He said. "… fucking…" Then his swords clamped around her neck, pressed right against her. "… talking." Xiaoyu held his hands, and suddenly felt them shift inward.

"Murderer, Morris?" She asked. Morris closed his eyes, and span his swords too fast to see, slashing at Xiaoyu, and her piercing scream was heard by all.

* * *

_Jinrei stood still. He said nothing. He did nothing. He neither moved nor asked another question. Jun looked sternly to him. Then her expression softened._

"_Jinrei, I need to ask you something." She said. "About Spike." She sat down, her knees to her chest and her arm wrapped around them. "And Morris."_

"_I'm ready to give advice, in exchange for receiving." He said._

"_You first then, master." She said. Jinrei bit his lip, thinking of the words to say._

"_What is Morris's place in all of this?" He asked. "Asuka has brought an unrelated man into this mess, and I don't want an innocent to be hurt because of me." Jun looked away, as if it were difficult to answer._

"_I won't lie to save you hurt, Jinrei." She said. "He's got a big part in all of this, and it isn't a good part, either. There's a good chance he'll be dead before the end." Jinrei bit his lip._

"_Is there anything I can do?" He asked._

"_I think so, but I don't know what."_

"_Thank you." Jinrei murmured, hiding his dissatisfaction. "Your turn, Jun." Jun sat there. Silent._

"_Jinrei, is it wrong to want revenge on someone?" She asked. Jinrei's eyes widened. _So this is that darkness I sensed.

"_Jun, whether he is a murderer or not, Spike taught me one thing, and that it is human to have a little evil within you." He said. "An evil thought is a thought. Nothing more. As long as you resist the temptation to act upon it, there is no harm to want wrongly." He looked to her. "You don't intend on acting upon it, do you?" Jun smiled that sweet smile once more._

"_How could I?" She said, sighing in relief. Jinrei smiled, and felt himself waking up from his trance._

"_Goodbye, Kazama Jun." And he was gone. Jun was alone, only with the sound of stillness and a now too familiar, haunting echoing whisper._

'_Liar.'_

'_**Odious.'**_

'_**Rancorous.' **_

'_**MURDERER.'**_

* * *

"I cut your hair." Morris sighed. "Get over it!" Xiaoyu held her head to her arms, then stopped screaming. She snarled like a tethered beast. She hated herself for slipping up. She was acting childish again. She had to get over it.

_It's no use, Xiaoyu. Give in. He's holding all the cards._

**Pound his face in. Make him squeal. Prove them wrong. **

_He's unstoppable, though._

**Remember when he called you a bitch?**

Xiaoyu smiled nastily. She decided to show Morris what blowing one's top was _really_ like. "So, you don't like to have your mother mentioned, do you?" Morris's expression tried to remain nonchalant, and from a distance he didn't look bothered, but Xiaoyu saw his eyes. He was ready to kill her.

"Yeah, what of it?" He said as-a-matter-of-factly. Xiaoyu stood at full height.

"I mentioned your parents. Get over it." She began to walk away. Morris kept his nerve. He knew what she was trying to do, and he wouldn't let it work. "I'll bet I have bigger tits than her." She looked at Morris, who was working himself into a state of calm to shroud the rage. "I'll take that as a yes." She pretended to think about it. "She must be a right skeleton."

She didn't even feel the blade smash into the side of her leg, though she screamed in agony and fell to her knees. She looked and saw that it hadn't just drawn blood. It had ripped some of her skin away. Gore dripped like red hail upon a cobblestone hill. Her head turned immediately to see a cloud of vehemence flying her way. She pushed herself upward with her good leg, her bad one supporting her for the needed time, slicing at Morris three times and falling back to her knee. He stopped a few steps after passing her.

"Stupid kid." He said, and then he collapsed.

Nothing happened. All was still. Morris's blood ran across the floor. Paramedics rushed silently. No words were uttered, no screams, no breathing. Complete silence, that was deafening. Xiaoyu turned to Asuka, smiling as she did.

"So, Asuka, I need to catch up with you. Wanna go grab lunch?" She asked, but Asuka just stared. Xiaoyu looked back and forth. "What? It was a fight. He'll be fine tomorrow, the cuts weren't deep at all, and he would've done the same to…"

"His mum's dead." She said, and Xiaoyu understood. She looked shocked for a second, but then slipped back into her new persona.

"How was I to know?" She asked. But Asuka didn't reply, just walking away and following the medics taking Morris to his port of call upon the carriage of white feathers, stuffing and silk.


	8. Circumstances

**Chapter 8 - Circumstances**

* * *

A sea of yellow traversed the hospital ward floor as the sun set in the other world, a world away from the pained embittered mumblings of beaten fighters, the occasional appearance of a clean shaved man and his buxom entourage walking through looking serious and nodding every so often at nothing really that important, a small man in the corner, listening to a phone, never speaking, scribbling away idly. This was the world that Morris had inhabited for the afternoon. Xiaoyu's prediction had been correct. The cuts were no large matter, and he was a lot healthier by the time he awoke a few hours later. As for his mental state, though, it was undecided whether he was psychologically stable to fight tomorrow. The fight had worn his senses away, he felt a constant numbness, and they guessed that though his body was fine if in pain, his ego was shot and he wouldn't have the willpower to do anything. He had barely spoke, just lay in his bed in heavy thought. The few things he had said where of Asuka's whereabouts.

"Sorry sir, your girlfriend is competing in the tournament right now." They had answered his first enquiry. Morris had to hastily inform them that they were not a couple, the reply being some inaudible mutterings about how much they argued.

"I wouldn't be all that surprised if they were married, never mind a couple." The doctor had laughed to his aide.

After a long while, for which Morris mostly spent boasting to a few bosom nurses and fellow competitors that his pelvis alone could bench-press a hundred pounds, Asuka did indeed arrive.

"I heard you were asking for me." She said. She smirked, not letting the chance to cause blows to Morris's ego slip away. "Are you that obsessed with me?"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you over the sound of me being awesome." He said in retaliation. "I heard Xiaoyu's worse off than me." To this, he laughed heartily, feeling that nothing could ruin this moment. "See her fight today? Her knee's shot. Completely gone. She won on luck alone."

"Luck and determination, Morris." Asuka warned him. "She used to go down pretty easily, but you've sparked something in her. She wants to beat you, and that's what keeping her going. When it comes down to the crunch, you won't take her seriously enough, and she'll roll you up badly."

"Nuts to the flat chested queen of fairyland; she took my knives, so I'm calling it stealing. I was going to use them later, but no, she just ahd to take them. Chekov's Gun indeed. And frankly, I've got bigger priorities than a bad tempered kissogram."

"Like what? No wait, let me guess, you've got some breasts to ogle over rather than actually training for…"

"You, actually." Morris said, not a trace of a smirk.

They looked to each other and said nothing. The clouds darkened as rain began to beat lightly on the window. Asuka just stared at Morris, gawping, as he casually looked outside and reached for his whiskey flask as if he had said nothing. He took a heavy swig.

"Asuka, to be honest, before today I didn't give a flying shit what you wanted." He began to explain. "You came to me and told me how I could make a load of money easily. You told me that I could beat Jin, take all the money and leave your life forever." He paused, still looking away. "Sounded too good to be true. I jumped at the chance to get out of the gutter. So I went along with it. I smiled, punched up a few people. Things sometimes looked hairy, but I pulled myself back up for that money. And then…"

"Then?"

"Something changed. Today. You ran straight into the paths of four swords. Tempers were flying. If I hadn't pulled back, you wouldn't be here." The reality of the situation finally hit Asuka. An act she hadn't really thought about now dominated her thinking. "No joke, you'd be dead. So why'd you do it?"

"I…" Asuka looked for the words. She was amazed at herself. Why _had _she done it? "For you, I guess."

"Didn't even think about it, did you?" He asked. "You just did it." Asuka nodded. "You were ready to get killed just so save me a scratch." He said in reply. "I owe you. I want to repay you as best as I can." He looked to her at long last. "As soon as this whole affair is over, I'll only take the money I owe people and you have the rest."

Asuka stopped thinking and stood still. Her mind repeated the scene like a CCTV camera, over and over, looking for something, anything, to criticise. A lie, a trick, anything. This was a lot of money Morris was talking about. This was his ticket for a life off the streets and he was offering it away to her on a plate. Why give all away? It made no sense to her.

"Are you totally sure about this?" She asked.

"Positive."

"Well, well… who is it you owe money to?" Morris's eyes darkened, and he looked away again.

"Bad people." He said.

"Why?" Asuka couldn't stop herself. She wanted to die right there and then. _Why did I ask him that? Why? _Morris made no visible change, though his breathing became a lot more controlled.

"Circumstances." He answered. He remained silent. "Don't worry, Asuka, it'll be in the past as soon as this is all over." He said, smiling to her. Asuka looked in astonishment. For the first time she had known, Morris's smile was a genuine smile. No conniving smirk, no hint of a lie, just a smile. She smiled back in the same way, and sat by him. His smile changed as she did, back to its same old smirk of menace. "You _so_ want to shag me."

"You're the one who asked for me, smart arse." She said. "Hand me that whiskey and stick the TV on, there's a programme I wanna watch."

* * *

Kazuya sat lazily in his chair, his legs upon a small stool and his whiskey in a small glass by his feet. The room was much larger than anybody else's, yet it was completely black, except for the flicker of white that the television blurred out into his room. He watched idly, not taking notice but simply watching the fighters as he would ants. His head rolled lazily.

"And now, here's the highlights of today for all you unlucky duckies who didn't catch them." Came a voice too enthusiastic to be genuine. Kazuya stared at the TV, considering why he actually was watching the damn thing.

"Kazama Asuka did well, making good care that Yoshimitsu hit the dirt." A flashy montage of Asuka's well placed blows came up on screen. Kazuya waved his hand slightly. He was certainly surprised of any relation to his wife existing back at the fifth tournament, but by the end, he knew she was unimportant. A mere distraction. A coincidence. He smiled. Maybe after all this, he may meet her. See what Jun's life was like. A curiosity.

_And why would you do that?_

Kazuya rolled his eyes at his own parasite. **Thank you for your opinion, **_**mother**_**. **He sighed slightly. He felt the devil was speaking up a lot more than usual. He was often helpful, with only good advice, but now he was just irritating. Kazuya thought that the devil was restless. Something was coming, he supposed.

"The spotlights, though, are on our two underdogs, who have now been placed as high favourites. Ling Xiaoyu has had a very good run, beating all in her path, even with an injured knee. She seems unstoppable."

To this, Kazuya laughed harshly. Xiaoyu? Unstoppable? The two words didn't belong in the same sentence.

"Then there is her rival, Morris Wellington."

"WELLINGTON!" Kazuya shot forward hearing this name. He fell on his knees at the foot of the screen, watching as Morris fought Xiaoyu in a whirl of blood and chaos.

"Tomorrow morning, he'll face off with old time favourite Kazuya Mishima, the first ever winner and a big contender. That's all we have time fo…"

The TV blacked out before the sentence could be finished as Kazuya sat back into the chair, picking up the whiskey once more. "Wellington." He murmured. "Tomorrow you will die."

* * *

_Spike stood completely still, his gun hand outstretched. He snarled in anger as another, shrouded man was at the other end of his gun. He spoke words, but Morris couldn't hear them. He couldn't hear anything. He couldn't see the man's face, as it was shrouded with fog. He couldn't see the scene or indeed anyone else. All he could see was Spike pushing the barrel to the man's temple. Then somebody else faded into view, again with the head obscured. A screaming woman. Morris almost vomited._

"_No." Morris murmured. "Not this. Anything but this." The woman screamed, but it was blurred, distorted. He just heard anger and pain. Spike turned to her._

"_No, no no no no no!" Morris shouted again and again. He closed his eyes, he put his fingers in his ears, but it wasn't enough to completely mask the fatal slug of lead smacking into flesh. He opened his eyes instinctively. He was now alone. Morris was completely alone._

"Morris, you ok?"

Morris's head bolted up, smashing Asuka's head right out of the way. He looked to her, on the hospital floor, dazed and in shock, unable to move. Morris got down.

"Asuka?" He asked. He didn't get a response. He thought quickly. "Hey, Asuka, you're a virgin!"

"So are you!" Asuka replied quickly, getting up. Morris smiled dangerously now.

"You know, we can both change that fact. I'm wearing nothing underneath this hospital robe, and..." He stood up. "I'm wearing a hospital robe?" Asuka rolled her eyes.

"I see getting beat up by Xiaoyu really didn't change you, your intellect is still taken up mostly by your libido and your ego."

"Did Xiaoyu beat me…?" He asked himself. "Oh yeah, I touched your breasts." Asuka sighed.

"Yes, Morris, you did, now shut up." She said. "You were having a nightmare." Morris looked confused.

"I was?" He said. He really couldn't remember even a fraction of his dreams, as per usual. "Well, I'll believe you. Spike again?" Asuka nodded, slightly unnerved how casual he seemed about his nightmares.

"Morris, I'm…" She stopped herself. "Look, just get ready. Your fight's in an hour."

* * *

It was a bad day to fight in an open arena. The rain from the previous day hadn't ceased, and the throne the yellow sun had once gazed the earth from was now occupied by a cloud of absolute blackness. Colour was replaced by a never ending spectrum of grey. Even skin and clothes that lost colour without light to emphasize it. Morris stood shivering, looking on the arena. Great pillar stood tall above the ground, faded out of sight by the rainfall. This was an arena that would benefit the sneakier fighter. Morris smiled. He was used to underhanded fighting. Playing dirty was his main tactic anyway. He turned to a miserable Asuka, grinning rather stupidly.

"Lovely weather, eh?" He asked. Asuka looked to him.

"I've found out who your opponent is." She said worriedly. "It's a man called Kazuya Mishima. Jin's father and head of the G Corporation. He has bad news written all over him, and his fighting style is completely unique to himself." Morris shrugged. "He's going to be harder than anyone you've faced so far."

"Yes, Obi Wan." Morris moaned. "I wasn't aware that I was the padawan here."

"Morris, I'm serious! Be careful!"

"Pffft…" Morris rolled his arms in preparation. "He won't land a punch."

"Wellington!" Came a stern voice from behind them. Morris and Asuka both turned. Kazuya stood there in his typical shirtless fight gear. Asuka stood back timidly. Morris howled with laughter. "What?" Morris couldn't answer, falling onto the floor in a fit of hysterics. He got to his knees after regaining what little composure he ever had.

"The hell's up with your hair?" He asked. He jammed his hands behind his head. "Hwah! I am mighty fighter. I has luscious hair. Grrrr." He stopped thinking about any strategy, sure that he wouldn't need one. "So, what's your plan? Stabbing me to death with that silly do? Or how about showing your crazy big chest? What with that scar, I don't think you're that tough." Asuka prompted Morris to shut up, and looked at Kazuya.

"Mishima." She said simply. "You hurt him and I'll break you."

"Asuka, isn't it?" Kazuya said politely. "I knew your aunt. We must discuss it some day."

"Don't pretend we're friends." Asuka turned to Morris. "Give him a kick for me."

"Don't need to." Morris replied. "One punch and I'll floor him." He looked to Kazuya once more. "So, ready to lose to the awesomeness that is me?"

"Don't count on it." Kazuya said. "Let's see if you're as much a scumbag as Spike." Morris's brain hammered into gear rather suddenly. He got into his fighting stance instantly, his expression turned, smugness to anger. Kazuya laughed harshly. "Taking me seriously, now? You're a credit to your stupid ancestor." He slumped into his fighting stance lazily, knowing that Morris was now riled, and was going to take the less sensible options.

The claxon wailed from a way away. Morris swung his weight to the left as Kazuya charged. Kazuya's momentum was lost due to having to change direction, and Morris blocked the punch with ease, replying with several sharp, hard hits to Kazuya's chest. Kazuya stood back in pain. Morris smiled.

"Weak spot?" He asked. Kazuya snarled, and pulled his weight onto one foot. Morris stepped forward, sending a jab to the face, missing but covering his advance. Kazuya stood back further, his back pushed right up against a pillar of stone. Morris stopped to smile. "Scared?"

"Stop talking!" Kazuya snarled.

"Or what?" Morris asked, dropping his guard for a split second. Then he noticed that Kazuya was behind him now.

"Or that." He smirked as Morris began to feel the blow. He stooped down in pain, his senses all stunned by the strike.

"Christ!" He murmured, before he looked up. The pillar in front of him began to crack. "How the hell does he move so fast?" He groaned, before rolling out of the way of the crumbling pillar. He stood up quickly. The rain and the pillars hid Kazuya well, and the pitter patter slams of the drops silenced all noise. Morris bit his teeth. He was being circled, and Kazuya striking now when he was at his weakest was a better case scenario. It was a nightmare of a position to be in. He looked around for a sign of life.

"Be brave, Morris." Came Kazuya's voice from somewhere Morris couldn't pinpoint. "Be bold, be stupid. Try and catch me, fool!" Morris spun in midair.

"Come get me!" He barked. He waited for a reply. "You really are a coward, aren't you?" Morris thought desperately. Searching his mind for something, _anything, _that could change his luck around. Then it snapped. "You know, this tactic of yours…" Morris stood fully, out of battle stance. "Seems more like something Jin would do." Then he stepped simply to the side, allowing Kazuya to run harmlessly past. The wet ground meant that stopping immediately was not an option unless he wanted a broken ankle, and Morris laughed as Kazuya smacked into another pillar. "You're also pretty stupid."

"Stupid boy!" Kazuya shouted, turning around. "You really think that insults will save you?" Morris smiled.

"Worked so far." He said, jumping back in time to avoid Kazuya's anger filled attack. He swung his own fist upward, smacking Kazuya back. "Come on, man! Xiaoyu's a better fighter than you, if I have to put it in perspective." Then he saw Kazuya crouch and crawl towards him. "This looks fun."

Kazuya's trump card sent Morris flying, smashing into a pillar and crumbling it immediately. Morris lay where he landed for a small time, stunned by the attack. He moaned in pain. Asuka was right. While Kazuya had landed only two blows on him, Morris was in dire straights. He had given Kazuya at least ten strikes and Kazuya didn't even seem bothered. He watched as Kazuya approached casually, lifting him onto his feet. The eyes held a great smugness. This was somebody who didn't even consider Morris's importance.

"Spike at least had the dignity to stand up when we met last time." Kazuya said in disgust. "I thought you may hold some significance to all this. I guess not." He punched Morris once more, launching him though the air. Morris rolled pathetically into another slump. He watched Kazuya again, as he approached. "Fight back, boy, or are you giving up?"

"I'm not a boy. I'm a sex machine!" Morris snarled. Kazuya placed his foot onto Morris's head. Asuka stood forward.

"Don't you dare, you motherfucker!" She screamed. Kazuya looked to Morris still.

"You're not even worth the honour of me killing you, boy." Kazuya said. "But unless you surrender I've got no…" Then Morris lost control of himself.

"Wouldn't Kazume be proud?" He replied. Kazuya stopped for a moment. Morris did too. He blinked. _What the hell did I just say?_

"Pardon?" Kazuya's growl was a rumbling anger. "How do you …"

"How do I know?" Morris finished, pushing himself up and sending Kazuya to the ground. "I'm just clever."

Morris brought his fist into the rising Kazuya, smacking him back down to the ground. He rolled onto his own knee as Kazuya rose. Morris wrapped his arm around his neck and brought his head rocketing into the hard concrete. Kazuya's senses flared into action.

_This mere mortal is defeating you, Kazuya? _The devil questioned. _You're better than him!_

Kazuya brought his head forward, sending Morris onto his feet clutching his forehead. Kazuya flipped onto his feet. **Time to die, Wellington. **He rushed forward, striking as he came forward. Morris was ready, however, and Kazuya's anger was dulling his senses. As such, his strength was repelled easily, and Morris's stubbornness worked to his advantage. His pain all gone, Morris began a fiery assault.

_Fight back, Kazuya! _The devil screamed as Kazuya was left helpless, hammer blow after hammer blow slowly breaking even Kazuya's spirit to fight on. _He's a weakling! A wretch! Kill him NOW! _A stomach blow. A jab to the temple. A body shot. A kick to the knee. An elbow to the cheek. Kazuya spat up some blood. _KILL! FOR YOUR WORTHLESS SAKE KILL HIM!_

Kazuya raised a lazy fist, but he had lost all control on events, and he was in trouble. Morris stood back. Kazuya forced his fist forward, only to have his fist passed between Morris's own, before he was dragged to the ground. Morris's hand smashed against Kazuya's face. Kazuya scowled.

"I know that pin." He murmured. "How do you know my mother?"

"How do you know my uncle?" Morris answered. The two remained silent. Kazuya sighed eventually.

"I guess this is a stalemate." He said. He looked away from Morris. "I hate myself to say it, but there is no point in fighting on. You win for today." Morris let him out of the pin. Kazuya stood up. "Don't think you're safe, Morris Wellington. Even if you win the tournament, I'll find a way to hurt you." He walked away, sulking, suppressing angered screams from Devil within. He stopped to look at Asuka.

"I suppose you taught him that." He said slowly, before walking away. Asuka looked to him and ran to Morris, hugging him harshly.

"It looked bad, Morris." She whispered. Then she raised her eyebrows. "Morris, don't you dare touch my buttocks." Morris raised his hands quickly. They parted as quickly as they came together. "Where to now?" She asked, escorting him to the arena edge and to the cheering crowd.

"Well, I thought that we…" Morris began to say, until something caught his attention. He stopped and stared at it blankly. Asuka looked over.

"Morris, what's wrong?" Suddenly, Morris ran in the opposite direction. She watched him run. "MORRIS!" She shouted, then looking back. Nothing in particular stood out, until she saw a man with a yoyo. His black hair was incredibly short, and he was the only Englishman in the crowd it seemed. He was tall, with a somewhat of a beer belly. His face was darkened by evil, his eyes sadistic and menacing. He wore a thick trench coat and black jeans. His Hawaiian shirt was a glaring feature about him. On his wrist was a small pick and blue band, with the words 'Pro-life' on it. He had a gun stuffed into his trousers, the handle hanging on the belt. But what really caught Asuka's attention was that smile. A greedy, deadly grin. That of a horrifying predator, having spotted prey. His yoyo span dangerously in the air, it moved as if by his thought alone. Asuka stood back slowly and followed Morris.

* * *

"_Bad people." He said._

"_Why?" Asuka couldn't stop herself. She wanted to die right there and then. _Why did I ask him that? Why?_ Morris made no visible change, though his breathing became a lot more controlled. _

"_Circumstances."_


	9. Pink and Blue Banded Demon

**Chapter 9: ****The Pink and Blue Banded Demon**

**Author's Note: Dammit, Quick Man, get over here and EAT MY CRASH BOMBS, BITCH!**

**Yeah, this is a bit of a filler chapter. Near NO jokes, just giving exposition and shit. Ah well. Enjoy, anyway.**

* * *

A few days earlier

_Johnny Showdown took a long, heavy drag from the brown, fiery tube, the other end alight, the smoke filling his mouth and causing the tongue to burn pleasantly. He moved the cigar away from his lips and breathed heavily out his nose. His hotel behind him, the city before him, with great blazes of sunlight beaming through the glass pillars. He smiled._

"_Nice day for it." He murmured, beginning to walk into the city. His pro-life band on full display, his yoyo in one hand, his cigar in the other, his short hair only just catching the colder wind. His footsteps held that lightness of joy that none of the business folk, surrounding him with their faces to the ground, could ever hope to achieve. He was a glare in a sea of monotony, an apple in a basket of eggs. To his left, he saw a small coffee shop. He recognised it as the one he had went to yesterday, and decided to enter with a smile. His hands worked faster than his eyes. Newspaper, small pen for the puzzles, wallet, English-Japanese phrasebook. He could read the language, but, in Johnny's own words 'Pronunciation's a bitch in this place' so that was that._

"_**Anything else, sir?**__" The man at the counter asked. Johnny didn't understand, though knew enough about standard civility to have a good guess._

"_**A muffin and a coffee, sir.**__" He blurred clumsily, handing over a good few yen. He sat on a table outside and ignoring the headlines and other stories, wondered what the Sudoku puzzle would hold and flicked to that page._

_If he had not misplaced his finger, then all would be well and Johnny's place in this story would not be warranted, but at a cruel twist of fate, the sports page beheld itself to him and with it the glaring obvious face of Morris Wellington. Johnny accidentally tore the page straight in two due to the shock. He remained sitting there, astounded, and his mind went into autopilot._

_An hour passed. Neither coffee nor muffin had even been touched as Johnny sat, staring, comprehending the horrible, ugly truth. He looked around carefully, and walked away, knowing exactly what to do, and how this situation could be turned to his advantage._

_The sun flared across the white hot pavement leading to the Mishima Zaibatsu Stadium where the tournament was being held. Queues were vast, numerous and crammed together, as if the whole world was churned into a lobby fit for six. Johnny made good to stay to the edges of this crowd, so he could fork away if he needed to. A small opening leading into the staff entrance was found, and Johnny slipped into the door. He smiled nastily as he found the new corridor devoid of life besides a Tekken Force grunt, pre-occupied with watching the fights on a small TV._

"_And now we go to Arena Six, where Morris Wellington and Julia Chang are having a deadly battle. It's looking good for Julia, but Morris…"_

_Johnny blocked out the foreign voice out of his head, and walked discreetly past. He reached a number of doors, all numbered. He went to the sixth door, and opened it carefully. He drew his Polaroid camera before he thought to, and looked for anyone Morris may have associated with. He took a quick picture of Morris, and awaited a sign._

"_CAN'T YOU SEE HE'S HAD ENOUGH?" Somebody shouted. A young woman. Brunette, short hair, youthful, impressive figure. Johnny smiled nastily. _It's going too perfectly_, he thought, as his camera glared the flash once more. _

_The next port of call was a small, poky coffee shop. It was a cold, deadly atmosphere, except for the smiling shopkeeper. The shopkeeper was a burly man, tattoos across his arms, dressed smartly but casually._

"_Can I help you, sir?" He said warmly. Johnny didn't understand the Japanese, but made a good guess and sat down. He looked around. The coffee house was completely empty._

"_Yakuza." He said. The shopkeeper's eyes became cold, as a business man would when the deal was first mentioned. He said nothing, just went to the back. A few minutes passed until he came back with a suit wearing, dark haired man walked in. He wore glasses and smoked a thin cigarette._

"_Now what's a British man doing in my city?" He snarled as he sat down. Johnny smiled._

"_Don't worry… um…" He bit his lip. "Is it Kenta?"_

"_It is." The reply was cold and uninviting. "Just who the hell might you be?"_

"_A paying customer." Johnny said his smile still intact. "I have a small request."_

"_That's not an answer." Kenta said, clicking his fingers. "I want you to tell me your name."_

"_I don't want to give you that information." Johnny replied. "I've got enemies. You could easily be one of them. Now, what I want is muscle. I'm going to need some expendable grunts to help me restrain a…" Then he heard the gun behind him get loaded. His head turned slowly, and a hideous grin appeared. _Three men, all built brick shithouses. Only one gun, a Smith and Wesson, five bullets, so not expecting any trouble. Piece of piss.

"_You want muscle?" Kenta said. "You've got it."_

_Johnny's hand reached into his pocket, yoyo in hand. The grunt nearest to him pulled him off the chair and threw him onto the floor, away from Kenta. The silencer was just pointing at Johnny, but the yoyo slammed straight into his forehead. He was knocked back, and looked up. He saw the yoyo, he saw the blood drip onto the floor from his own head, and then he dropped dead._

_The yoyo was hard steel, with protruding, curled blades like talons. The gore, blood and bone hung ghastly from it, with Johnny's horrifying grin emphasizing the nightmare. All in the room stood stunned. Then one of the other grunts ran to him, readying a fist. Johnny spun on his heel, the string of the yoyo wrapping around the grunt's neck. He threw the yoyo's head at the third grunt, slamming into his chest and spinning nastily. The grunt died screaming, and the garrotte wire did its work on the other as he choked and dropped. Johnny looked to Kenta and put the yoyo calmly on the table. The blades folded away and once again, the yoyo looked harmless, if bloodstained. Kenta's jaw shuddered._

"_Know who I am now, Kenta-san?" Johnny asked maliciously. "Or should you be next?"_

"_Johnny Showdown…" Kenta said in part awe, part horror. He stood in panic and bowed. "I apologise for the misunderstanding, Showdown-san." Johnny's grinned widened._

"_It's ok." He waved the excuse away. "I need three grunts who are expendable, a warehouse and a van. No guns." Kenta raised an eyebrow._

"_No guns?" He asked. "What do you want them for, Showdown-san?" Johnny's wicked grin closed, then smirked._

"_I want this target to die painfully." Johnny explained. "Slowly. But most of all, nastily. The whole point of him being killed is to make an example." He sat back, pulling a cigar from his coat pocket and biting heavily onto one end. He lit the other, and began his story._

"_My first ever job was ten years ago. I was just an upcoming freelancer at the time, completely unknown." Johnny's cigar burned heavily as the smoke filled the air slowly, causing Kenta and the shopkeeper to cough heavily. "My first ever clients were a ring back in the north of England known as the Stamfords. They had been screwed over by someone, big time. Forty six grand went down the toilet. That's well over 6.5 million in your money. So they went after her. All they found as a dead body and a ton of explosives. All of them were high paid in that stinger group, and they lost another two grand, and their head man. So they came to me. They didn't want all the other groups to think that the Stamford's were losing steam, so they came to me and a bunch of other guys."_

"_What for?" Kenta asked. "If she was dead, who'd the Stamfords go after?" Johnny laughed gently. Kenta started to regret ever joining the Yakuza if it meant meeting this mad man._

"_Anyone else they could get their hands on." Johnny answered. "Every single person she ever knew, ever even spoken to." He dragged on the cigar quickly. "Husband, siblings, parents, children, friends, teachers, anyone and everyone. They paid four guys to kill twenty people, and seeing as I was a newbie, I got her ten year old son. They said to make an impression with him. So I burnt down his flat." Kenta spat the coffee he was drinking in shock. "The entire block. Sixty eight people, dead. Looked like an accident, but the other gangs knew who it was. The other three they got to kill this list were picked off."_

"_By who…?" Kenta stopped asking. He had guessed. "Carry on, Showdown-san."_

"_It was hard, took me two years to find twenty two of them, and the husband and daughter are still out there somewhere, but eventually the Stamfords didn't want the string of deaths to go back to them so they called it square. Twenty two people, three grand a head, and some extras for the really important and brutal ones. Do the math, Kenta-san." Johnny sucked on his cigar. "Been doing jobs for years now. Decided to retire at the ripe old age of thirty. Came back to Japan. I've got friends here."_

"_And you've found those two loose ends?" Kenta asked. Johnny shook his head._

"_It was a bigger surprise. I was feeling pretty good today. Sunny day. Just waiting for the house I bought to get ready, so thought I'd come here to see the sights. I saw a sight, for sure." He reached for the Polaroid of Morris. "Recognise him?" Kenta laughed angrily._

"_Yeah. I lost a good thousand on him today." He looked up. "What has he got to do with anything?"_

"_Well, he looks good, doesn't he?" Johnny said. "Especially for somebody who's been dead for a good ten years." Kenta looked up._

"_The son?" He asked. Johnny stuck his thumb up._

"_I got ten grand for him when he was ten." He said. "The Stamfords'll get a rude shock when they found out they've lost another ten grand thanks to this family. Unless I kill him and send them his body. Now think how much they'll gimme." He sat back. Kenta nodded._

"_So, you want expendable musclemen, a place to crash and a van?" Kenta said. "I'm interested. So, how much am I being paid in this venture?" Johnny began to laugh._

"_Paid?" He giggled. Kenta went red before Johnny decided to explain, reaching for the second Polaroid. "You see, Kenta-san, you don't want my money. I could give you your own weight in gold and it wouldn't buy you this." He threw the Polaroid, this one of Asuka, onto the table. "She's going to be the bait in this trap. I won't need her once Morris is dead. She's all yours." Kenta's tongue rolled in his mouth. Johnny sneered in disgust. "Lechery. Man's greatest design flaw, right?" Kenta stood up._

"_Showdown-san." He stated. "Expect your men the day after tomorrow." He put his hand out. "Deal?" Johnny smiled, wiping the bloodied yoyo with his shirt sleeve and extending his own hand. He clasped Kenta's hand firmly and friendlily, knowing that Kenta will be dead as soon as this deal was over._

"_Deal." He said outwardly. _I'll send the girl with Morris to the Stamfords._ He said inwardly. _Another grand for a little present.

* * *

A few days later

Morris rinsed off the sweat on his face for the twelfth time that day. He looked up to the mirror. His face wasn't the sunken in skull it once was. It now had meat, and he had even shaved. He shook his head slowly as his now much longer hair fell over his eyes slightly.

"What the hell am I to do?" He asked himself. His reflection stared back, beginning to scowl.

"Go fuck yourself, Morris Wellington, you fucking idiot." He murmured to himself. Morris rolled his head around angrily.

"Hey, fuck you, it isn't easy being me!"

"No. No it isn't." He retorted. "But you don't have to put others in danger, do you!"

"I expected them to let me win them the fucking money!" Morris shouted. "How the hell was I to know Johnny would be here?"

"Asuka doesn't deserve it." He replied. "So who does? Do you?" Morris blinked in surprise.

"Look, how the fuck is it my fault?"

"Whose fault is it then?" He asked. "Your mum's? She got you into this whole mess!"

"It was pushed onto her, it wasn't her fault!"

"Wasn't it?" He snarled. "How about Spike? It was his rashness, his stupidity, his leaping before he looked that killed your own _fucking_ mother!"

"Fuck you! The hell else was he going to do? In his position I would've!"

"If not his fault, then whose?" He murmured. "Lean closer, and I'll tell you." Morris was interested, and leant in. "Yours." Morris stood back, choking on his breath, almost falling off his feet.

"Don't blame me, I'm too awesome!"

"Oh, always the ego, always the frigging optimism!" Morris shouted suddenly. "WAKE UP, MORRIS WELLINGTON!" He stood back. "You heard me. Mum tried to stop it. Spike tried to stop it. You did what? **NOTHING!**" Morris let the words sink in, smirking as he did. "Johnny burnt the flat down. YOUR FAULT! Everyone else in that entire block is now dead. YOUR FAULT! It's your fault that your mum's dead and it's going to be you to blame when Asuka dies too!"

"Oh fuck off, you've had way too much to drink to talk sense." Morris rolled his eyes, dismissing his information as he would a restaurant bill. His ego gathered all the information he didn't like and made it go away.

"Asuka's going to die. Johnny Showdown will be the one holding the gun but it will be your stupidity that does it in the end." He leaned toward his reflection, still talking as he did. "Johnny's going to use her to get you out in the open, you're going to panic and get yourself killed. She'll be no use to Johnny anymore and she'll die."

"Bull fucking shit." Morris laughed. "I'm a way better fighter than Johnny Showdown. The guy attacks people with a fucking yoyo." He shook his head in disappointment.

"Morris, you dumb fuck, Johnny doesn't fight like anyone else here." He said. "He doesn't care whether or not he wins or loses, he just kills." Morris raised an eyebrow.

"How can a guy lose a fight and kill his opponent?"

"Kazuya may've wanted to kill you, but he was more concerned about winning, and remember, you were fully focused on winning too." Morris explained. "Johnny doesn't work like that, you know he doesn't. He'll make you nervous. He'll do something to Asuka…"

"No, he won't. She'll beat him up piss easy."

"He'll take her out." Morris carried on regardless. "He'll find a way to really mess with you. You know what he'll do."

"Don't you dare say it!" His voice snarled, the air itself shying away from the anger in his voice.

"He'll film it too." Morris murmured, trying to goad a fight. "Not on the first day, mind you. He'll send you a different tape first. He'll describe what he will do to her, in as much detail as it takes to really boil your blood. He'll then tell you on what condition he'll leave her alone, and by then you'll be way too angry to think it through. You'll rush in and you'll both get killed!" He laughed harshly. "And it's your, FUCKING, _FAULT!"_

Morris punched the mirror in a blind rage. He looked to where the mirror once was.

"I'll kill him if he so much as tries!" He said. He heard a sharp intake of breathe, and turned to face Asuka, tears in her eyes. "How much did you hear?" He asked.

"Every word." She said, before pulling him into a hug. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know I was putting you in danger bringing you here."

"It's you I'm worried about." He whispered, holding his own tears back. He then pulled himself away from her. "Asuka, we've got to leave." Asuka stuttered slightly.

"P-pardon?" She said as she watched Morris walk past her. "Morris!"

"It's for the best!" He dismissed as he looked around for anything he needed to take. "We'll get out of Japan, otherwise he'll find us. My dad's in South America, so that's a no. Safety in division…" He thought carefully.

"Morris, what about Jin?" Asuka asked desperately. "This is the only time we can get him!" Morris dismissed this.

"We'll catch him next time." He said. "What's this tournament, annual? Next year'll be good." Asuka sat down in pain. She couldn't believe what was happening.

"Morris, Jin's going to win if we don't stop him and he'll start another war…" Morris laughed.

"Asuka, you pessimist." He said. "Neither you nor I are in the army, so who gives two shits?" He walked over to the door, opening it and standing by it. "Ladies first." Asuka murmured silently to herself.

"Don't you care for all those lives?" She asked. Morris rolled his eyes.

"No time for this. Johnny's had a few days to plan my untimely death, so time is of the essence. As Jin will win anyway. He's a total bitch." He waited for Asuka, who was sat still. He sighed. "So this is how it's going to be." He walked over to her. "Asuka, if you stay here, Johnny will kill you, and I don't want that. But if you wanna end it all…" He then amazed her, kissing her on the cheek as a husband would to his wife before going to work. "– go get'em, baby." He walked over to the door and stepped outside with a spring his step.

"Morris… yesterday, at the hospital…" Morris stopped in his tracks as Asuka said this. "– you told me that I didn't even think twice before running into a flurry of knives to save you a scratch." Morris shook slightly. "I don't know where I stand for you, whether you see me as a friend or as eye candy, but when you offered up all your money if you won for me, I could tell that I _meant _something to you." Morris's fists clenched. Asuka could tell his instinct was telling him to run, but he sure didn't want to. "Can you do the same for me? We _have _to stop Jin!"

Silence reigned supreme, as a chill ran over the hotel. Morris stood, not noticing the rest of the world. Even his mind had stopped. Indecision dominated his thinking, and Asuka saw it. She tried to begrudge him for nearly running away, but she knew it was what he had done all his life, running away from the demon with the pink and blue band. She thought of a way to bring him back in.

"_Well, if I got anything else out…" Morris replied, the smirk on his face becoming devilish. "- you'd faint with joy."_

Asuka cursed herself for thinking of the idea, but could see no other solution. She grabbed the nearby vase of flowers and looked up to the heavens.

"Sorry, grandma." She whispered. Then she looked dead ahead at Morris. "Oh no!" She shouted melodramatically. "This vase full of water is toppling in my hand. I hope it doesn't fall." She heard a painful groan from Morris. She bit her lip. _Don't make me do it. _"Uh oh…" She said, then, begging for forgiveness from whatever deity watched her now, spilt a drop of water on her shirt. It was embarrassingly warm, and she felt disgusted. "Whoops." She said, deciding to add a drop for good luck. Morris began to turn around.

"If I can't at least see your bra, I'm off to Toronto!" He barked jokingly.


	10. Wrists

****

Chapter 10 – Wrists

* * *

Asuka curled further into her slumber, the warmth surrounding her, bringing her comfort to a level she hadn't felt in a long time. The light was a dim gold, signifying the rising of the day's sun. She was oblivious to this as her dreams kept her in a calm state. Her smile was almost angelic. She wrapped her arm around her companion and pulled herself closer. Then the smell hit her. She awoke, and opened her eyes.

"MORRIS!" She wailed. Morris turned to her suddenly, his eyes full of shock. He observed her face quickly.

"What the hell are you doing in my bed?" Morris shouted rather angrily.

"Your bed? This is my…" Asuka suddenly stopped, experimentally smelt the duvet. "Morris, when did we get a double bed?" She looked around. The room was completely different to what their room usually looked like. Morris raised an eyebrow.

"This isn't our room." He murmured. Then he looked to his left. "Hi Julia." Asuka gulped, and turned. Julia and some unnamed, attractive young man sat in a corner, huddled together in fear and rage, with only a very thin blanket. Asuka sat bolt upright, looking for anything to explain. A shattered door and twelve empty beer bottles told her everything. Asuka's jaw slowly dropped. _We didn't…_

"Julia?" Asuka said. "What happened?" Julia's jaw dropped.

"Don't you remember anything?" Julia asked. "You both burst through the door, laughing and drinking and you kicked us out of our bed!" Her rage was tempered. "Sorry, but Asuka, what the hell caused you to drink _so _much?"

"I'm… I…" Asuka couldn't say anything. "We didn't… do it, did we?" Julia shook her head. Asuka sighed. Morris remained silent, as if waiting for something. "Julia, I'm…" She stopped. "Is that your boyfriend?" She asked. The reply was a nod. _I was positive that she was a dyke. _She was stunned at her own thoughts. _Good god, I'm becoming Morris!_

Julia shook her head. "Why don't we just pretend it never happened, ok?" Asuka nodded.

"That's sounds good." She tried to look for words. "Though I'm still so, _so_ sorry. It's just that we've gone through a rough time and… I dunno, needed to… um… get it all out." The dead silence remained. She waved politely to Julia's friend, who looked terrified by these intruders. Morris coughed slightly.

"Well, now we're all on the same page…" He said without a hint of jest. "- I suggest we have a gangbang." Asuka's head fell into her hands instantly as Julia's face went red and her fists went white.

* * *

Her hair was incredibly messy. After the last encounter with Morris, she had to restyle her hair to cover where he had cut it. Where a proud head of pigtails once lay, now was a spiky tight shingle. She was outwardly fairly embarrassed by it, but inwardly she was glad. It showed the world that she had changed. She wasn't a child anymore, she thought.

Xiaoyu's fists hammered into the punching bag. She was alone in the small locker room. She trained here rather than the main gym, a pit of shouts and distractions. Here, a silent fight could be maintained constantly. She kept the pace of her punches fast and controlled. Her eyes burned with a roaring passion and anger. She heard a slight cough, and she turned her head.

"Hey, grandpa." She said, stopping her punches to address him. Jinrei sat down on the nearest bench to her.

"I've found out who your opponent is." He said, holding a slip of paper. "It's Asuka." Xiaoyu looked to the slip, which had some unimportant information and the names in big letters. She turned back to the bag.

"Fair enough." She said. "Looking forward to it. We've been planning a re-match for quite some time, so I guess that…"

"You don't hate her, do you?" Xiaoyu looked to Jinrei, shocked.

"Of course not!" She replied. "She can hang out with anyone she likes. It's Morris who's the problem!" She turned back, smashing the bag with a punch that burst it open. She looked at the sand dribble away. "I've beat him once, I'll do it again." Jinrei shook his head.

"Morris isn't a bad man." He said. "He's just… unrefined."

"He's a barbarian."

"You should have met his uncle Spike." He said. "Noblest man in the world, and yet was rude and blunt as a brick." Xiaoyu sat down besides him.

"You've been mentioning him a lot recently." She said. "You keep murmuring his name in your meditations. Just who was he?" Jinrei considered the answer.

"He was…" He thought again. He remembered what Jun had said. _Her love was destroyed by him. Tricked by the liar. The thief." She turned back. "The murderer…_ "- an old friend of mine. Don't know where he is now, though." Xiaoyu nodded to herself.

"Ok." She murmured. She smiled at Jinrei, who smiled back.

"Just thought you'd want to know who you were fighting today." He said, and left. She turned her head back to the punch bag. She got onto her knees and began to sweep up the sand with her hands.

"**A brush would work just as well." **A very clumsy attempt at Japanese was sounded from behind her. She turned to see an Englishman reading an English/Japanese phrasebook in one hand, and a yoyo in the other. On this hand, there was a pink and blue band. He looked up to her, and back to the book, flicking through the pages frantically. **"I have some… questions about you."**

* * *

"Why did you say it?" Asuka said. Even after an hour, the subject hadn't settled. "Her boyfriend was in the room and you know how she feels about you." Morris shrugged his shoulders.

"I didn't know she had a boyfriend." He replied. "I thought she was more into woodland creatures." Asuka elbowed him hard, and observed the fighting ground. Or rather, the fighting arena, as there was no ground to speak of. Two buildings stood apart. The yellow sky and the white sun made all a golden colour, with the puddles from the previous rainfalls of yesterday glittering beautifully like pools of shimmering metal. Many white and black scaffoldings attempted to conjoin the two buildings. Morris huffed slightly.

"What?" Asuka asked, with very little patience. Morris scratched his head nervously.

"Sorry." He said slowly. Asuka rolled her eyes.

"Not going to cut it, and its Julia you have to…"

"I don't give a shit about her." He interrupted. "I've got a bad feeling." He looked around slowly. "Asuka… I've got something to admit. I'm a time traveller." Asuka raised her eyebrows. "I've been having weird flashbacks. Times around about twenty years back. I've been meeting Spike, and some other weird shit." Asuka looked for a joke or something. There wasn't one. She looked for Jinrei instinctively. She wasn't quite sure why, but she had started to stop trusting him.

"Those nightmares?" She asked. Morris shook his head.

"There about something else. Something related, I'm sure." He said. "It's about Wang Jinrei… he knew Johnny as a kid." Asuka blinked rapidly. She looked again.

"Are you sure?" Morris nodded. "Tell me, how'd you know?"

_Morris sat at the doorpost for a short while. Spike and his apprentice were training in the front lawn of the small house, and he didn't want to interrupt. Not yet. Spike was aware that he was there, so Morris just scanned the house for curiosity's sake. It was a small place, only a temporary fixture. Comfortable, though. He had a look around the house, and found a whole load of diamonds. _So, _Morris thought, _the diamond smuggling's nothing new. _This must be the place he hid his stash._

"_Hey!" Morris looked instinctively. That voice sounded so familiar. He saw Jinrei escorting a young boy, English, a sweet face and a cute Hawaiian shirt. Morris smiled at this, but he was more interested in the third person, a tall, raven haired woman so much like Asuka it wasn't even funny. He stared at her. Something about her chilled him. Why he couldn't place, but a lot of hatred was directed to him. She didn't look pleased to be here, and Spike returned the scorn._

"_Kazama." He murmured angrily. "The fuck are you doing here?" His apprentice looked up, looking to the group. The young boy walked over._

"_You two have business." Jinrei told them. He waved to the apprentice, who waved back. Spike looked to his apprentice too._

"_Nature girl, keep out of trouble for at least five minutes." He smiled slightly, before rushing over to the woman and past her. She followed, as did Morris. They ran until they were out of ear shot. He looked to her. "So, how's the 3WC, Jun?" He asked. She stared harshly._

"_Fine. How's the smuggling?" She almost spat this._

"_Been better. Japan's not got as good a market as I was told. If it weren't for training her, then I'd be back home." The two remained silent for a short while. Morris looked to Spike._

"_Who is she?" He asked Spike. "I recognise her from somewhere." Jun looked directly at Morris as if he appeared out of thin air, stunned and taken aback._

"_Where did you come from?" She asked. She looked to Spike. "I knew you had a sister, but not a brother." Spike looked incredibly perplexed._

"_You can…" Spike shook it off. "This is Morris. Morris…" He turned to Jun. "- this is a goody-two-shoes who likes animals too much and smells of cat piss." Morris rolled his eyes._

"_I know someone like that." He said. "So, you alright?" Jun didn't say anything, just raising an eyebrow. "Right. So, I guess you want me to leave?" She nodded harshly._

"_Just wait." Spike pulled him in close. "Please tell me Jun's dead where you come from." _

"He said _that_?" Asuka interrupted. "The dick! And what about Jinrei?"

"I'll get to him, Asuka!" Morris hushed her. "And as a word of warning, I think he had good reason to ask." Asuka widened her eyes.

"Well, Jin's her son but…" She looked up to Morris. "You don't think she _helped_ him?" Morris nodded. "But she died over five years ago…" Morris looked confused.

"Asuka." The two looked over to the other building. Xiaoyu stood there, her hair blowing silently, wearing a generic tracksuit and hoodie. Asuka waved to her. She looked to Morris.

"Tell me how Jinrei knows Johnny, quickly."

"That kid I mentioned. That's him. You've got a fight, so I'll tell you later." Morris murmured to her. Asuka nodded. She and Xiaoyu both leapt down to the nearest terrace, opposite the other. No words were uttered before the bell was rung. Even after, no movement or action was made. The two just stared the other down. The wind seemed to stop, the sun that once brought light now only strengthen the shadows in the alley. Then the two clashed.

It was Asuka who had leapt first. She had hoped to land on the terrace below and prepare an attack while Xiaoyu followed. However, Xiaoyu seemed to be fast as lightening, already there and ready. She punched Asuka off balance and watched as she hit the terrace shakily. She followed up with a punch downward, forcing Asuka off and down. Asuka fell shortly, hitting the platform underneath on her back.

"Dammit." She seethed, getting up quickly. Xiaoyu clambered down as Asuka steadied herself. The two were now aligned, and they began to exchange blows. Asuka felt no real attachment as she blocked and jabbed. Left right kick knee right right left double jab hook left, it all just blurred into monotony as she pondered Morris's story. For too long, it seemed. A nasty trip caught her off guard and she hit the floor.

"Wake up." Xiaoyu said. Asuka rolled away from the oncoming foot as it slammed down on the grating. She brought her fist crashing into Xiaoyu's chin and leapt to the other side. Morris looked down on her from above. She looked back.

"What?" She asked. Morris pointed behind her. Asuka sent her elbow back, smashing into Xiaoyu and rocketing her away. Xiaoyu landed on the railing painfully, rolling onto the other side slowly. Morris whistled.

"I have to admit, nothing upstairs but she's got a hell of a bum." He said. Asuka looked up to him angrily.

"Don't you have better things to do than compliment my opponent?" She asked.

"You also have a nice bum." He said. "And you're more interesting. And duck." Asuka hit the floor with her hands, letting Xiaoyu fly harmlessly by. A rising uppercut slammed and crawled across Xiaoyu's back, followed by a harsh throw that sent her back. "Nice one, Asuka." Morris added. "Not a problem, eh?" Then Xiaoyu roll-kicked Asuka. The wall behind her simply crumbled like sand as Asuka fell through. Morris winced.

"Damn." Asuka moaned, suddenly lurching forward with a sharp pull from Xiaoyu. A sharp punch ripped onto her cheek, followed by a kick away. Asuka drew a thin breath. _Jesus, this is hard. When did Xiaoyu get _this_ good? _Then a low kick smashed Asuka onto the edge of the terrace, fingers only just gripping as she fell. She looked up to see Xiaoyu scratching her nose.

"It's odd." She said. "I couldn't land a hit on you last time." Her foot suddenly hammered down. Asuka screamed as her hand fell under the pressure, pulling away. Her left was without support, and started to slip. Xiaoyu smiled. "I'm not such a loser now, am I?" Morris rolled his eyes.

"Like she'd lose to a dullard like you." He murmured. Xiaoyu turned to him.

"What?" Then she realised her mistake as a hand pulled on her hair. "What is it with the hair?" She screamed as she fell back, fumbling desperately for balance. Her feet curled to catch herself on the edge of the terrace. She hung there, dazed. She then dropped carefully onto the terrace below. She saw Asuka above, catching her breath. "Alright." She panted, before grabbing the grating above her. She swung around, kicking a hole through and flipping into it. She threw her elbow back, just catching Asuka's cheek. Asuka seemed completely unaffected, kneeing Xiaoyu in the stomach. Xiaoyu winced, giving Asuka time to strike harder this time, face palming her before bringing her head onto the floor. The grating collapsed underneath Xiaoyu as she began to drop. The shadows hid her falling form from Asuka as she peered for a sign of any retaliation.

"Xiaoyu?" She asked.

"Great plan. Simply ask her where she is." Morris murmured.

"I thought you were on my side, Morris." Asuka didn't even look at him, noticing a glimmer of movement. "There you are." She bounded quickly to the other side, just avoiding Xiaoyu's leaping strike. The clattering and smashing of metal filled the air as the two prepared another onslaught. This time, Asuka waited. She knew Xiaoyu was on the ropes. She carefully wiped the blood from her mouth. Xiaoyu jumped after Asuka after a short while of deciding. Asuka thought she was more than ready, punching out just before Xiaoyu landed.

"Bad idea." Came Xiaoyu's response as her hand grabbed Asuka's and pulled it in. The two began to plummet. Xiaoyu rolled onto the surprised Asuka, and kicked off her, landing carefully on a terrace. "So, Morris?" She asked to the top. "Who's not a problem?"

"Who's a flat chested bint who should look behind her?" The reply came. Xiaoyu snorted, before thinking about what he said.

"Hi." Asuka said, with a well aimed knee sending Xiaoyu rocketing away. She followed the falling Xiaoyu, diving and over taking, before catching a bar and swinging onto it. She punched out, timing it perfectly. Xiaoyu smashed into the wall in front, and Asuka made fully sure with a flying kick before Xiaoyu fell. Xiaoyu landed shoddily on the terrace below, while Asuka landed perfectly on the handrail.

"Where did you…" Xiaoyu stopped to moan painfully. Asuka dropped down and plucked Xiaoyu up.

"I've fought here before." She said, before punching her away. "Sorry Xiao, but it's over." She punched Xiaoyu down. She expected Xiaoyu to either give up or keep fighting, but instead she just sat there. She seemed to be pondering something. _Shit… _Asuka thought. _I've seen Morris like this when he's losing._

"Asuka, what you waiting for?" Morris asked. Asuka instead backed off, jumping several times to the next terrace up. She looked down to the friend, who seemed to be pondering. Asuka fought off the instinct to strike now when Xiaoyu was preoccupied. She knew that when someone's at their worst, they can suddenly turn.

Xiaoyu was indeed pondering. _Xiao. _Her fists clenched with hot anger. _Xiao, did you write this love letter? _Came Jin's voice. _Xiao, leave me alone, I'm being moody. _Xiaoyu closed her eyes and curled up. _You? Enter the tournament? Leave it, Xiao, I don't think they'd allow schoolgirls._

"MY FUCKING NAME IS XIAOYU!" She suddenly shouted, looking up to a stunned Asuka. Morris gulped.

"Oh shit, she's going supernova!"

Xiaoyu seemed to grow, suddenly leaping from terrace to terrace with renewed energy. Asuka prepared for a strike and readied a block. Xiaoyu got to her terrace, her eyes now hardened with rage. Her fist blazed forward. Asuka prepared a cross block, two arm forming an X. However, when the fist collided, Asuka heard a crack, and screamed in pain. Then the next fist came, blowing her stomach away, then a barrage of damage unleashed itself on her. Kick kick punch left right left kick elbow right left left right hook all seemed the same hammer. Asuka was bashed, unable to react. She swung her fist once in defiance, just catching Xiaoyu. Xiaoyu backed off slowly, and saw Asuka glare back.

"I'm not giving up." Asuka spat some blood up with these words. "I'd rather lose." Xiaoyu didn't soften, but still smiled.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." She answered. The two charged to each other, their strikes lost in a blur, an almost dance-like battle. Asuka was determined to keep going, but will power was all she had. Xiaoyu was reinvigorated despite a harsh beating, and Asuka had already taken too much. Her knees simply embraced the floor, and her body didn't react as it fell. She laid there, stunned, her mind screaming for a last stand, her soul told her that she mustn't give way, but her limbs said no. She heard the referee count the numbers that meant her defeat, but couldn't move, no matter how she felt. A tear escaped her eye as she heard those words announcing her loss. Her world became black and back to reality.

"Hey, sugar tits, gedd'up." Morris said. Asuka was pulled to her feet, and she almost fell again. She just saw Xiaoyu, who didn't look better, balancing onto the handrail for all her might, as her own legs fell. Asuka smiled.

"Hey, Xiaoyu…" She murmured, and her friend came closer. "That was fucking ace." Xiaoyu simply nodded, smiling. A paramedic came over.

"Kazama Asuka, by tournament rules, you must report to the hospital." He said with authority. Asuka nodded. She looked to Morris, then to Xiaoyu.

"You two have something to say to each other." She said. "Catch up with me." She joined the paramedic, as she was caught in his arms, slumping forward. The two left, but Morris stopped Asuka just before she left.

"Be careful." He said. She nodded. When they had left, Xiaoyu and Morris looked angrily at one another. Xiaoyu sighed after a good five minutes.

"Look, Asuka and I have been in touch a lot recently." She said. She looked to the floor. "Sorry 'bout your mum and shit." She grumpily admitted.

"No prob." Morris murmured reluctantly. He glanced at her. "I like your hair." The two remained silent.

"Thanks."

"And your bum." Morris added. Xiaoyu looked to him angrily. Morris gave a standard 'yeah, I said it, bitch' look, until he saw something, and his heart leapt to his throat. He suddenly pulled her wrist towards him. "Where d'you get this?" Xiaoyu pulled her hand away angrily, only to have it snapped back. She looked into Morris's eyes, and saw something new. An anger, an anger that terrified her. "WHERE THE FUCK YOU GET IT!" He pleaded. She looked to her pink and blue band.

"Just some reporter. Knew my grandpa appare…" Morris smacked his hand across her mouth.

"Wait." He said, more to the world than anyone else. "What tournament rules?" Then he realised what the paramedic had on his own wrist.

"Morris, what _are_ you babbling about…" Xiaoyu didn't finish, as she was suddenly vaulted down the buildings by the wrist, with Morris still holding on. The two landed on the alley floor, some ten storeys down. Xiaoyu moaned in pain, but Morris was completely fine. He looked down both paths, and saw an ambulance. And in the door stood a smiling gentleman in his early thirties. With a big cigar smoking in his lips, a yoyo spinning under his hand and a pink and blue band around his wrist.

"NO!" Morris shouted. Johnny sneered joyfully.

"Bye." Johnny said. "Or rather, Au revoir." And then the ambulance began to speed away. Morris bolted like a maniac but didn't reach as it sped off into an uncertain future. Xiaoyu stood up blearily.

"The fuck, Morris?" She said. "That hurt…" She saw the rigidness in Morris, and couldn't help being unnerved. "Morris?" Then she watched as he simply dropped to the floor unconscious.


	11. Nothing to Lose

**Chapter 11 – Nothing to lose**

* * *

"_What?" Morris blurted to Spike. "I thought you said you loved Kazamas."_

"_Yeah, except that one." Spike pointed to Jun. "She's been trying to prove I've been smuggling diamonds ever since I got here." Morris raised his eyebrow in confusion._

"_You are smuggling diamonds." Morris said. Spike frowned._

"_Don't be fucking clever." He said. "Intelligence is overrated and so is she." Morris made eye contact with Jun. She looked hard, stern and stoic. Morris turned back._

"_To be honest, I would do her." Spike rolled his eyes._

"_Not in bed, you twat, in spirit." He murmured. "Between you and me, everyone says she's an angel, but I know her better than anyone. She's dead as a rock and half as likeable."_

"_You're just saying that because she's after your diamonds." Morris said. "That and she's Jinrei's friend. Speaking of which, why shouldn't I trust him?" Spike seemed shocked. "I'm serious, Spike, Jinrei's a bellend and I think he wants me dead." Spike then started to laugh._

"_Morris, Jinrei's no murderer!" Spike said in between giggles. "He's mad, but as harmless s a kitten."_

"_Then what's with the letters to Asuka?" Morris said. "It didn't take long to put two and two together." Spike sighed._

"_Fine, yes, Jinrei's dangerous, though he doesn't mean to be."_

"_Yeah, helpful. 'Oh, Jinrei's stabbed me, but he didn't mean to, so I don't die now' doesn't cut it for me."_

"_Look. Jinrei's small fry compared to Jun. People say she's pure and kind and good hearted, but when it comes to people like us, she's got no pity."_

"_What do you mean by 'people like us'?" Spike looked to Jun, and pulled Morris deadly close._

"_Bad people." He said. "As far as she's concerned, there are two types of people, angels and demons, no middle ground, no grey area, nothing. In her eyes, criminals, whether by choice or design, are simply evil, and she'll happily watch you die." Morris rolled his eyes._

"_Seriously?" Morris laughed. "Even if she _was _that judgmental, I'm a good guy!" Spike rolled his eyes._

"_Prove it." Morris laughed for a short while, before preparing to speak._

"You'll rush in and you'll both get killed!" He laughed harshly. "And it's your, FUCKING, _FAULT!"_

It took one strike, with a muffled crack, and the snow became red with scarlet. The boy took the pipe with him…

_Morris realised he had nothing to say, and dropped his arms._

"_Exactly!" Spike murmured. "Now run along back to Jinrei and Nature Girl and Johnny. I've got stuff to talk about." Morris nodded rather lazily, then stopped._

"_Wait, who?" However, he was pulled into consciousness, already knowing the horrid truth._

* * *

The next morning, two hours after Johnny took Asuka

Morris awoke with a hazy perspective. He couldn't make out shapes, and his eyes stung with the saltiness of tears in his eyes. He pulled himself to his hands and knees and began to choke slightly. He sat back. He looked to his left.

"**Sir?" **Came a worried murmur. Morris looked. A family watched him. The little Japanese girl was standing closer to him than the others. **"Are you Morris Wellington-san?"**

"What?" He asked. "I'm pissed. I had a nasty dream. I don't know where I am. Speak English or I might kick you." Morris lazily wiped the tears out of his eyes.

"I speak English, Wellington-san." The father said. Morris shook his head slightly.

_I've got one hell of a hangover. _He murmured. He searched his brain for a memory of the previous moments. _I'm sure something important happened. _He stopped thinking for a moment. He decided to look for something, anything...

… he saw Asuka's breasts.

_Well, yes, they're nice… _Morris thought. _… but there's something else…_

This time he saw Xiaoyu's bottom.

"Xiaoyu, get your arse out of my brain, I'm thinking!" He shouted. The young girl backed off slightly. "The fuck's the matter with you?" She came a little closer, pulling a small piece of paper from her pocket. She handed it to him. He looked to it. It had a picture of him. He looked to her. "Yes?"

"She's a big fan, Wellington-san." Her father said, handing him a pen. "Many of our friends are." Morris thought a small while, signing the picture with a little curiosity. It never occurred that people liked him, or even that he was famous. But, this was a martial arts competition, on TV all around the globe.

_Maybe Dad and Hannah have seen me. _He thought. Then he thought some more. _Though, then again, maybe the Stamfords have…_

… _maybe…_

… _the…_

… _Stamfords…_

"Oh god…" Morris dropped the pen and paper. "Asuka…"

* * *

Xiaoyu bit her fist. Her mind whirred and whirred, coming to conclusion after conclusion. In her mind's-eye, Asuka was still alive, she had escaped, she was dead, she was in a different country, something had happened and she had not a clue. She looked around Jinrei's room, her mind still in a desperate, confused mess. _It's only an hour. They can't have killed her… but they could've… she wouldn't get far… she's back in Osaka… they can't of buried her… oh where are you?_

"Xiaoyu?" Jinrei interrupted her thoughts. "I've phoned Lei. He says he's looking into it, but Morris's missing and nobody knows who could possibly be behind it…" He bent down and hugged her. "… do you?" She shook her head, as tears began to well in her eyes. He looked deep into her saddened eyes. "You can cry, Xiaoyu." She blinked away the tears.

"No…" She said. "… no, tears won't get her back. We've got to think of something." Jinrei sighed.

"Sometimes tears are all we have." He said. Then a knock came at the door. He looked to Xiaoyu. "Lock the door and tell them we're busy. We'll find Asuka, Xiaoyu, but we can't until we have something to go by." Xiaoyu walked over to the door.

"Come back later." She shouted, locking the door as she did. She turned back. "So, grandfather, what are we…" Then the door fell down. She turned around.

"Actually, I want to talk to Jinrei right now." Morris said tensely. He walked over quickly .Jinrei stood up.

"Morris, I've contacted the police and…" Suddenly Jinrei took a body shot. Unprepared and shocked, Jinrei was helpless as Morris slammed his face against the wall.

"Where is he?" Morris barked. Xiaoyu stood up.

"Morris, what the fu…" Suddenly Morris pulled her grandfather's head away and smashed it to the wall again.

"WHERE IS HE?"

"Who?" Jinrei asked through gritted teeth.

"Johnny Showdown! Tell me!" Morris waited. "NOW!"

"Why?" Jinrei murmured. "What do you want with him?"

"I WANT TO SNAP HIS FUCKING HEAD OFF!" Morris shouted. Jinrei found himself remembering Jun's words.

"_He is a Wellington." She said. "Wellingtons are never to be trusted._

"You're serious…" Morris paused. He let go slightly. Jinrei turned around, expecting a reason. What he got was a fist. The wall behind him snapped, and he slid to the floor.

"GET OFF MY GRANDFATHER!" Xiaoyu shouted, but Morris ignored her, plucking Jinrei off his feet. He held him still before punching him again.

"Good to see you're catching up, you stupid old bellend!" Morris shouted. "Statement of the _fucking _year right there! 'You're serious.' Why yes, old-man-beardy-tits, I _am_ serious, I'm very _fucking _serious! I'm going to _fucking __**murder **__**that little shit Johnny and you're going to tell me where to find him!"**_ He picked Jinrei up, who simply blanked for a moment.

_"Her love was destroyed by him. Tricked by the liar. The thief." She turned back. "The murderer…"_

"I won't let you!" Jinrei shouted, pushing Morris off. He kicked out, sending Morris into the back wall. "What do you want with Johnny?"

"Oh stop _fucking_ thinking about Jin's little devil and open your _fucking_ ears for one single solitary _fucking_ minute!" Morris shouted back. "I'll spell it out for you, shall I? HE'S! GOT! ASUKA!"

"I don't believe you!" Jinrei shouted.

"I don't care whether or not you believe me!" Morris stood up. "I want you to tell me where Johnny is!" He swung a punch, but it was unplanned and easily blocked by Jinrei. Jinrei put Morris in a complicated pin.

"Calm down. This isn't helping Asuka at all." Jinrei said.

"Help this!" Morris suddenly pushed backward, sending himself and Jinrei into the bathroom door. The door shook and splintered, and snapped with the force. Jinrei and Morris collapsed onto the floor. Jinrei punched Morris, scarring his cheek. Morris pulled at the sink. Jinrei punched him again, but Morris wasn't stopped, snapping the pottery sink out of its place and whirling it into Jinrei's body, breaking the thing and bursting the taps. Water smacked into Jinrei as Morris broke down onto his knees. "PLEASE JUST TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" He curled into a ball. Jinrei watched as Morris burst into tears in front of him. "I just want her back…"

Time stood still for a short while. The spraying of the water kept up the pace, filling the small tiles, blue and silver leaf at first, though now yellow and beige with the cracks from the various impacts. Morris laid bleeding and crying, refusing to come to terms with anything. He had had enough, and now he just wanted some peace. His ears only picked up the shriek of the liberated water as it escaped its cylindrical brass prison, and his heavy and constrained breathing. His brain stopped. His limbs stopped. His mouth and heart stopped. He slowly and surely wept his worries away. He contemplated running. He'd forget Asuka. He'd forget his mother. He'd forget Xiaoyu and Johnny and Spike and everyone else in the world. He had done it before. He could run. He could hide. He could shut himself off. He didn't need Asuka. It was better before Asuka. He was comfy on the streets. No responsibility. No life. No death. Only food, drink, fights and chases with the police mattered there. For ten years, he had been from France to Italy to Russia to China to Japan. He had no friends. He didn't need friends. He had the food from another's table. He had the occasional peek at an unwitting woman undressing. He had the odd street fight if he was feeling particularly annoying or angry. Asuka had brought him nothing but trouble. How could he help her? Why should he help her? Asuka brought him bad dreams, Xiaoyu, harsh fights to the death, Johnny Showdown, disappointment, disillusion and despair. She had brought him nothing but pain. Before was nothing to live for. Nothing to gain. Nothing to lose.

_And now you do._

"There's a tape here, that was at the door…" Came a nervous murmur. Morris looked up, interrupting his own thoughts. He looked to Xiaoyu, who was holding a VHS tape, with a pink and blue band wrapped around it. He looked to the floor, and saw his own reflection.

_"He'll film it too." Morris murmured, trying to goad a fight. "Not on the first day, mind you. He'll send you a different tape first. He'll describe what he will do to her, in as much detail as it takes to really boil your blood. He'll then tell you on what condition he'll leave her alone, and by then you'll be way too angry to think it through. You'll rush in and you'll both get killed!" He laughed harshly. "And it's your, FUCKING, FAULT!"_

Morris finally decided and drew up a plan.

"Wanna bet? I'm too sexy to blame" He murmured to himself. He pulled himself up and walked over to Xiaoyu. "And that, my flat chested friend, would be mine."

"Why?" She asked. "What's on here?"

"Pornography." Morris said, before rolling his eyes. "What do you think is on there, you fucking gonk?"

"It's a ransom…" Xiaoyu said, before pulling it closer. "Whoever it is, he's after you, isn't he?" Xiaoyu shouted now, realising the ugly truth. "HE GOT HER TO GET TO YOU!" Morris began to clap.

"Well done, Xiaoyu." He looked to Jinrei and back to her. "We're all using our brains today, class, now give teacher the tape so he can bring back Asuka."

"NO!" Xiaoyu pushed past him and ran to the window. "You're to blame. I'll do it!"

"Yeah, not funny anymore Xiaoyu, now give me the tape." Xiaoyu opened the window, and crouched on the sill.

"I'll be back tomorrow." She said. "With Asuka." And with that, Xiaoyu leapt out of the building. Morris ran over, and looked for her. He shouted for a while. Jinrei touched his shoulder suddenly.

"Morris, wait." He said. "What do the kidnapper's want with…"

"I'm after Xiaoyu before she kills herself." He said. "BECAUSE I WANT TO KILL HER MYSELF!" With that he burst out the room. As he left, a smile grew on his face for the first time in a good while. _Xiaoyu has the tape. So that's step one. _He thought to himself. _Now for step two._

* * *

The video began with a distorted wail, a void of insane, mindless noise. The scene then cut awkwardly to a scene of nightmares. Asuka's teeth were clenched, the gag silencing her and the blindfold impounded the hideous image. She was wearing little, what remained of her now ripped outfit, and was soaked in icy water and blood, shivering in the cold and terrifying atmosphere. She was tied to a chair and sat at a rusty, metal table, with the only light the angle poise lamp. Johnny sat on the table, smoking the cigar with an air of sophistication and class. He turned his head, smiled and waved friendlily.

"Morris!" He said as if greeting a neighbour. "How nice to see you alive. A pleasant surprise indeed." He jumped off the table, looking to the camera with a air of charm and menace. He looked to Asuka, summoning a knife to his hand. "Look Asuka, Morris is watching on camera. Say hi!" He un-gagged Asuka and slid the blade into her forearm. Asuka wailed in pain, making Johnny hum with hideous glee.

"Such an angelic voice." He said, ramming the gag back onto her. He turned back. "Morris. I've been thinking. I've been feeling really, _really _guilty recently about your unfortunate death. I couldn't fix it, though." He looked back to Asuka. "Isn't that right?" He then unexpectedly slammed her head down. Even through the gag, a moan escaped her as blood dripped from her forehead.

"Then you turned up alive!" Johnny leapt onto the table in excitement, squatting down like a chimp. "I was so happy; I decided that I would throw a party!" He pulled a party popper out of his pocket and pulled on the string. "YAY!" He looked to Asuka. "Aren't you excited! WE'RE HAVING A PARTY!" He snapped the gag off her.

"MORRIS, DON'T COME, HE'LL KILL…" Johnny slammed her head down on the table. Blood dripped like raindrops in a April torrent.

"Don't ruin the surprise." He moaned like a child. "I love parties, you see." He looked to the camera and touched his nose jokingly and knowingly. "Of course, we're all grown-ups now, so I thought a stripper would be a good idea, didn't I, Asuka?" He stroked her hair, twisting it calmly, curiously, as if he didn't know whether to stroke it or bite it.

"MORRIS, RUN! I'LL BE FINE!" Asuka screamed as Johnny pulled her hair into a tightened fist. He brought the fist onto the table, slamming Asuka's head down again with a dangerous and forceful 'whump'. She coughed in pain, and her tears dropped onto the table, embracing and mixing with her blood like dancers.

"Miss Kazama, don't pretend anything." He looked back to the camera, his smile still warm. "Now, I've got three friends with me, just to fill up the numbers, so don't involve the police or anyone else. Overcrowding can ruin a party."

"HE'S JUST TRYING TO MAKE YOU ANGRY!" Asuka shouted to Morris. "DON'T FALL FOR HIS TRICKS! HE'S WEAKER THAN YOU! HE'S NOT AS STRONG AS…" Johnny's smile became still as he suddenly clasped her throat. The corners of his lips began to sink and morph. His eyes held no glee now. He looked over.

"Pardon?" He asked slowly. Asuka spat at him. He looked to behind the camera. "Untie her." An inaudible question, a confused protest, came from behind. "Just do it!" He ran over the camera, smiling again. This smile was fake, though. Anger was the only emotion visible. "Excuse us for one moment…"

More feedback. The violent wails of technology clashed with silence. A shot came up on screen. The camera was on the floor, viewing the wall, as shadows danced around. Suddenly, Asuka's body rolled along the floor from behind the camera. She got up immediately, with tears and horror in her eyes and blood on her cheeks and jaw. She backed out of shot, scrambling, leaving a red trail. An already horrid shot, but then Johnny came into shot. He was being held back by several large thugs, with the lamp in his hand.

"LET ME GO!" He shouted like a wild man, as the musclemen murmured calming rationalities, all unheard and useless. All sense had died, and only the mad impulses that comes with strong emotion was left. "LET ME GO, I'M GOING TO SNAP HER IN FUCKING TWO!" Johnny suddenly broke free, and he ran out of shot. Suddenly their shadows where seen, as they danced a macabre show of violence and hatred. Asuka's terrified moans and the crushing of flesh and bone were all to be heard, in tune as the shadows broke together like waves in the wind.

White noise took over again shortly. A blank of jittering lines and shrieks that impounded only horror.

The scene finally cut back, to a sight that would break the viewer. The angle poise lamp was on the floor, discarded, dented and bloodstained. Asuka was on her knees, almost completely stripped minus a few rips of cloth to keep the decency and sophistication that Johnny now tried desperately to hold onto. She was covered in black bruises and messy cuts, as if anything and everything in the room had been thrown against her. Johnny stood behind her, smiling as he did before, though now he looked unnerved. He shook with rage. Now the result of Johnny's anger, his flying, uncontrollable ire, was in full view, and frankly it was an ugly sight.

"Sorry about that, Morris." He said. "A few technical difficulties." He bent down, taking the cigar he was smoking out of his mouth. "It won't happen again." He stared harshly at Asuka, taking the cigar out of his mouth and making sure she saw it. He suddenly slammed it harshly against her breast, crumbling it away and burning her skin. She barely had the strength to scream, simply moaning in agony and falling forward in a faint. Johnny looked back to the camera, his smile now gone. His eyes gave no hint of mercy. "Midnight, Morris. Warehouse 324, Tokyo Docks. You won't forget this party."

And with that, the screen blacked out.


	12. The Warehouse Destiny Chose

**Chapter 12 – The Warehouse Destiny Chose**

**Disclaimer: ****Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. ****You killed my father. Prepare to die.**

**A less jokey chapter. More action and filling in plot points. Enjoy and review, anyway, though. I'm actually glad how this one came out.**

* * *

Eight years earlier

_The moist soil held down the grass as the wind rolled across it, attempting to uproot all the vegetation, and send it into a spiral in the air. The silence was raw, unnerving and cold. The man in the raincoat coughed up some phlegm as he dug his fingers into the soil. The cliff he had just traversed was tiring and painful, but it would be worth the while, he knew. He remained on his knees for a short moment, recovering from the ordeal. The black of the night sky was shunned away by the bright stars, which thanks to a lack of clouds, shone brilliantly, goading the man in the raincoat on. He slowly pulled his head up. A small house stood a short few steps away. It had the architecture of a traditional Feudal Japanese building, which short spires and concave roofing. However, it was mixed with the sensibilities and materials of a modern Western home, with brick and plaster and glass. The building was familiar to the man in the raincoat, who smiled nervously. He rose slowly, and staggered to the door. He hesitated._

"_OK, Spike…" He murmured. "You can do this… 3… 2…"_

"…_1." Came a cruel voice from behind. Spike whirled around, suddenly feeling a horrible, searing pain in his leg, and a cloth gag slamming against his lips. He was dragged away from the door, slowly, but for some reason, he couldn't struggle, try as he might. He knew what was coming. "See you in a bit." And with that, Spike was thrown off the cliff. The door opened from behind. The attacker turned around, slightly startled. He sighed when he recognised the woman by the door._

"_Johnny?" She asked. She started to smile, and ran over to him, pulling him into a hug. The hug smacked Johnny's breath away, but he returned the hug nonetheless._

"_You alright, Jun?" He said. She nodded as she pulled away. "Look, I've just dropped something down that drop, do you mind?"_

"_Not at all, Johnny." Jun laughed slightly. "I'll make you a tea. That's what you British people drink all the time, right?" Johnny nodded, smiling warmly back as she backed away._

"_You know me too well. No sugar for me, Jun. Milk if you have it, though." Jun nodded, running casually back to her home. As she turned, Johnny's warm, friendly smile turned into a vicious smirk containing nothing but malice. He turned and slid carefully down to where Spike was. He looked as Spike began to move. "No you don't." He said, plunging his syringe into Spike's right arm. It fell, becoming limp, and Spike collapsed again. He looked to Johnny, who sat down and summoned a cigar from his pocket. "She's a very beautiful woman, you know."_

"_What the fuck are you doing here?" Spike spat, venom in every word. Johnny smiled tastelessly._

"_Looking for you, of course." He said. "Wang Jinrei said Jun had seen you last, so I came to her. She has a job for me anyway." Spike looked horrified. Johnny chuckled. "You still care for her so much." He spun his cigar in his fingers with a good deal of caution. "Now, are you going to tell me where your brother in law and your niece are, or shall I find them myself?" Spike smiled cruelly, and began to laugh himself. Johnny began to look angry, his brow furrowing and his lips straightening. "What?"_

"_I shouldn't really laugh." Spike murmured. "I've been ambushed, tricked and defeated by an idiot as well as a total wanker!" His laughter began to become louder. "You're the best assassin in the world and yet time after time they've been passing under your nose for over two years." Spike's laughter became nasty, unkind and strained. Johnny could barely contain himself, deciding to jam the needle into Spike's other leg._

"_Stop fucking laughing." Now the tables had turned, with Johnny becoming angrier and Spike laughing, though he stopped to seethe with pain. "Now where are they?"_

"_Muscle relaxant? Really?" Spike murmured, weaker now. He put his two fingers into his mouth, and began to retch. Johnny's smile returned._

"_Maybe we're both idiots." He said, laughing as Spike desperately tried to get rid of the relaxant by vomiting. "It contains opium. Your body's decided that the relaxant's good for it. You're not getting rid of it." He said. Spike looked pained as he turned to Johnny, whose smile returned. "Don't worry; you don't have to tell me. I'll find them myself." He sat closer, turning Spike over with his foot and pointing the syringe at his heart. "Changing the subject, what _did _you do to Jun?" His smile became wider and wider, crueller and crueller, as he watched Spike's face turn slightly worried. "She _hates _you so much." Johnny watched as Spike's eyes began to well. "Don't think I'm lying. She _hates _you more than she can bear. She sometimes wakes up at night, crying and wailing. She refuses to speak about you. She _hates _you so much. You've caused so much pain. You're the devil to her." Johnny smiled at Spike's despair as an eagle would while watching the mouse he had ripped apart died slowly in his claws. "I must say, you're an inspiration to me." He then jabbed the syringe into Spike's chest. "You'll die in four minutes." He said. "Think about Jun as you do. It makes me smile to watch you __**weep**__."_

_And he did watch. And Spike did die, his face contorted with many emotions, self-hatred, despondency, anger and disappointment. And Johnny clambered up the drop easily. And he met Jun again, and standing with her was a young girl of maybe ten or eleven._

"_Found it." He said triumphantly and friendlily, back in his usual, polite, meek lie of a demeanour. He showed Jun a small bone necklace that had some mud staining it. "Took me a while to find it." In fact, it was Spike's. He looked to the girl. A small blonde, with her short hair atop her freckled face, which was kind enough, but conveyed that she had seen things and anyone, would be unwise to upset her. Johnny immediately distrusted her. "Who's this then?" He asked Jun._

"_Hannah, meet Johnny, an old friend of mine." She said to the girl. The girl nodded, though her eyes had a slight fear. "Hannah's a little homeless. Her dad came here. She's going to help me with the meditation. Jin's helping as well, you don't mind, do you?" _

"_Not at all." Johnny said. "How is the little tyke?" However, his mind went into autopilot. He processed the information, but didn't hear the words. He didn't look back at Hannah but immediately knew that she could be…_

No. Don't take chances. If she's innocent, then you'll be killed too.

_Johnny nodded, smiling as Jun told him how good Jin was with his kicks now, and that punch Johnny had taught him the last time he was here really surprised her in their daily spar, but he didn't hear. He only heard Spike's laughing, and somehow thought that even as his face lay with a despaired emotion, humiliated and angry at himself, Spike was still laughing…_

"You're the best assassin in the world and yet time after time they've been passing under your nose for over two years."

"_Come on, you two. Jin's got it all set up." Jun said, walking to the house. Johnny looked to Hannah. Hannah looked to Johnny. Neither followed her, watching each other for tricks. The girl went first, and Johnny followed. _

* * *

Present Day

Rain rumbled on a metallic roof, the sound a great howl of a fighting beast that screamed and snarled and twisted this way and that with lightening paws and snarls of thunder. A monochrome world with a towering, unmoving behemoth in the centre; the warehouse destiny chose as the fighting ground. In the far distant, the sky took a yellow shade from the lights of the buildings of the city, a world away from the midnight at Warehouse 324, Tokyo Docks. The sky was brown and red and yellow here, with dead grey rain dropping through a dead grey air onto a dead grey ground. The warehouse itself was black, with a small, dark grey window on the first floor, where Johnny Showdown sat, spinning the yoyo in his hands, watching for his opponent and prize. He contemplated Spike's final words. He had only managed to confirm the identity of Hannah once she had left Jun's home, but then it was too late. She was gone, escaped again. This time, however, there was no complication. Morris was coming. No doubt. No failures this time. No escape. His cigar illuminated the window pane he sat on. The fire burnt through the leaf slowly, as Johnny drained the heat from the cigar. Then his eye caught something. His silent mouth that held no emotion now curled into a cold smirk.

"And here you are." He murmured. A small, moving figure, just close enough to notice if one is looking especially hard. A figure wearing what may be a raincoat, or may be a cape, or may be some other garment too far away to make out. Johnny turned his eyes to a small clock, a digital red-lettered box. 23:59 it said. And then it said 00:00 as if on command. Johnny moved quickly, looking to the beige sack that lay at his feet. He swung it over his shoulder in one simple swing, and made his way down the metallic steps. The echoing sound of his feet ringing on the steps made the three musclemen, distracted with their card game, turn their heads. Johnny reached for his English-Japanese phrasebook. **"Men…" **He mumbled clumsily. The musclemen watching, he placed the sack on the floor and looked to the rope on the top, tied in a small bow. He tugged at a loose end. **"Your payment." **And with that, he dramatically revealed the contents. Asuka Kazama rolled forward, her hands and feet tied together behind her back. She looked a mess, her decency a shred with her clothes replaced with a few short cloths wrapped around her abdomen and thighs. Her left breast still had the burn mark from Johnny's cigar, just low of the nipple, with cuts and bruises all over the rest of her body. The cuts had healed with time, but were still raw and red. Her brown hair fell to her neck as she looked up to see the hungry faces of the musclemen. She tried to move, but the restrains did their work as she dropped clumsily to her face. Johnny sneered at her pathetic form. "Come on, Kazama…" He murmured, this time in his native language. "… don't be so miserable. Your Morris will come." He said, fingering at the tape on her mouth. He quickly snapped it off. Asuka took a sharp intake of breathe through her closed teeth and looked to Johnny.

"**YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" **Asuka screamed incoherently in Japanese. **"I'LL GET OUT OF THIS, AND I'LL BREAK YOU! I'LL SNAP YOU! I'LL TEAR YOU APART WITH MY BARE HANDS, YOU FUCKING BASTARD-CHILD OF A DOG!" **She writhed and wiggled and thrashed about, Johnny simply watching blankly. She barked more obscenities, unheard as he seemed to giggle at her helplessness.

"Cute." He said, before suddenly slapping her across the cheek, the sound that of a whip. Asuka's angered wails became a tamed whimper. Johnny's smirk grew horrifically, his gaze piercing her. "Save your breath. You'll need it to scream." He stood up and walked to the door. He grasped at the handles of the doors, and forced them apart. The wind shook him slightly as a draft entered. He looked back as he stood into the wall of water that had formed from the heavy rain. He looked back to the scene behind him, extinguishing his cigar with his fist. He nodded, and turned as the musclemen walked to Asuka greedily, maliciously, evilly. He walked through the rain, shivering slightly. He put the hood of his trench coat up, but the cold and water still hit him. He rolled his eyes angrily. He didn't like bad weather such as this. It distracted him. Annoyed him. Drew attention away from the task at hand. He looked up, as the figure he had seen earlier came into focus. He suddenly felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. "No way." He murmured. He looked back. The warehouse was a long way behind. He looked back to the figure, who had broken into a run. Johnny bode his time. The figure came closer, and closer, and closer.

"YOU BASTARD!" The woman shouted, leaping to kick Johnny in the chest. Johnny spun to the side, drawing the syringe that contained the relaxant and jamming it into her airborne leg. The woman rolled painfully onto her stomach. Her raincoat flew off, stuck to the end of the syringe, along with a tear of her jeans. She tried to guess when Johnny would reach her, but she heard nothing but the stomping of the rain, like the chant of a crowd hungry and baying for blood. She pushed herself onto her hands, but suddenly her right leg fell. She tried to force herself up, but nothing was moving. Her brain screamed in panic. _What was happening?_

Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum.

Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum. Pha-dum.

Thump.

And Johnny's footsteps were heard, slowly coming closer.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

The woman trembled, trying to move with all her might.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Then suddenly she was turned over. Johnny stood above her, gazing emotionlessly at her. He summoned a cigar but didn't light it. He bent down to her level.

"Ling Xiaoyu." He said. "You've just made the second biggest mistake of your life. Now do you know where Morris is?"

"Where's Asuka, you fucking pig!" She shouted back. Johnny's blank face became angrier, as his eyes thinned and his brow rutted.

"_That_ was your biggest mistake." He said, placing the cigar sideways into her mouth. The cigar pressed into the insides of her cheek, so she couldn't spit it out. Her legs couldn't move. All she could do was watch as he paced around her. He stood over her feet, and then rose his right foot. He looked to her body, then her. She tried to reply with an icy gaze, but was confused. What the hell was he planning on? Johnny's foot delicately balanced in-between her hips, right over her core, making sure she saw every single inch of its steady movement. Suddenly, Xiaoyu understood. Her eyes gave away her terror as it slowly made contact and retracted, hovering just an inch above. Johnny smiled. "First time?" He asked. Xiaoyu squirmed in vain, unable to scream. Johnny smiled. "It's so nice to be one's first." He said sweetly, before suddenly pressing his foot down hard and twisting it in.

* * *

The three men pulled Asuka off the material that was imprisoned her. Asuka suddenly felt a great fear tremble through her body as greedy hands pulled at her skin. She was forced to sit up, and pushed onto her knees. Two of the men restrained her while the third stood in front.

"**I've got something for you."** He sneered callously. **"Stop squirming, and I'll be a little gentler…" **Asuka looked into his greedy eyes, blackened by the darkness of the warehouse. Then suddenly his eyes changed. The man clutched his eyes in pain. The other two stood up.

"**What's wrong?"**

"**Some dickhead's just dropped his trousers in front of me!" **He shouted. The two men looked up to the scaffolding. A cape hovered in the draft and blew to their feet. **"He wasn't wearing anything undernea…" **The first thug looked up, shocked. **"Where'd he go?"**

"**Don't know, but he left some old curtains." **One of his friends said.

"Could I have my cape back?" Came a voice, when suddenly a metal disc rocketed from underneath the one holding the curtain. Morris leapt out, landing his two feet on the sides of the gap. The musclemen stared at him. "You enjoy the view?" He asked. One swung his fist, but Morris dodged easily. "I could see why, for I am amazingly beautiful." More punches, more easy dodges. Morris danced this way and that, waiting for a good gap. One foot was misplaced by a thug, and suddenly all three of them were rocketed into the air with three straight uppercuts. Morris watched as they slammed onto the floor. One was about to get up. Morris looked behind him, and saw an oil drum. He lifted it above his head. "Lo, for I am Donkey Kong!" He flung the barrel into the thug, ricocheting it into the other two and knocking them out cold. Morris checked and ran over to Asuka. He lifted her up. She looked to him.

"MORRIS!" She shouted, pulling him into an embrace.

"I just jizzed." Morris murmured. Asuka pulled away suddenly, disgusted and angry.

"Now's not the time for jokes!" She shouted angrily, though she was inwardly glad he was here. Morris shrugged.

"You're not wearing any top and you hug me, are you really that surprised?" He asked, flinging her his 'cape'. "That'll have to do, though I prefer you didn't wear it." She obediently tied it around her chest, still shivering with cold and fear. "Now." Morris said, with all humour lost in his voice. "Where is he?" Then he was suddenly pulled back by a few inches. He dropped to his knees. He and Asuka stared in shock to his stomach, which had a bladed wheel embedded in it. It bled freely, and suddenly tugged upwards, throwing Morris kicking and screaming onto his back. Asuka looked up. She cowered away slightly. A figure of nightmares stood at the door, with a shivering body at his feet.

"She's a glutton for pain, she is." Johnny said, his voice literally rolling in evil like a pig in mud, gesturing to the cowering body at his feet. "Your little friend Xiaoyu." He jerked hard on the yoyo string, pulling Morris ever closer. "She didn't know, of course, but I made sure." He pulled once more, turning the occasional hard yanks into a steady constant pull. Morris left a trail of gore as he reached his deadly shadow by the second. "I was wearing my best shoes, too, and boy did she scream and roll and kick and beg and…"

"SHUT UP!" Morris shouted, desperately trying to get a grip on his feet. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"Oh, like you didn't know it would happen." Johnny said. "You knew as soon as you tricked her into your plan she'd get herself in trouble. I'm actually surprised, Morris, at your underhandedness. I know it runs in the family, but this is quite shocking." Morris attempted to stand up. Johnny pulled very hardly this time. The yoyo broke away from Morris, rolling onto the floor, bringing with it flesh and bone. Morris rolled, gasping for air. "Clever, but shocking." Morris got to his hands and knees.

"Up… yours… you…" He collapsed. Johnny rubbed his hands, walking closer. He glanced at Asuka, who was crawling towards him, trying to look strong. He looked at her, and she backed away again, her eyes wide with terror. He laughed louder than ever before.

"So, your girlfriend shuts up after a little beating or two!" Johnny said triumphantly. "Come on, she's a fighter, and there she is, gibbering in fear." He plucked Morris up and forced him onto his feet. "Let's see if you're any better!" Morris snarled, punching angrily, but missing and falling. Johnny simply caught him as Morris collapsed forward. He held Morris by his collar and punched him to the floor, blood literally flying across the room. "Oh come on! I haven't even administered the relaxant and you're done!" Morris lay curled, holding his stomach, from which blood came out by the litre. Johnny picked him up. "And again!" Another punch, another miss, and Morris stooped down in pain. Johnny kicked him to the floor easily. Morris couldn't move. His body had shut off.

"As… Asuka…" He murmured. Asuka backed away further, fear controlling her as Johnny put Morris onto his feet for another beating. She began to cry. _Please don't… for god's sake…_Asuka fell onto her stomach in a faint. Johnny watched as she did, smiling and cracking his fingers in preparation, as Morris staggered slightly.

"Oooh, this is fun, this is!" He stood there, lighting a cigar and taking a big breath from it. "Are you?" He punched Morris again, but this time held him up. He punched the great gash that was in Morris's stomach, causing gore to spill onto it. He plucked his hand up, looking at it. "You might want this back, actually." He said, rubbing his hand into Morris's face. He pulled out his syringe and plunged it into Morris's leg. Morris dropped like a stone. He moaned awfully. He just wanted to die. Johnny knelt down besides him. "Any last words before I give you a little euthanasia, Morris Wellington?"

"… p…"

"What? Speak up."

"… p… piss… off… home…" Morris's eyes closed in pain, accepting the inevitable. Johnny shrugged.

"You escaped death." He said, turning Morris onto his back. "Your sister and your father escaped death." He gave the syringe an experimental squirt. "Third time lucky for me." He raised the syringe above his head.

"No…" Came a weak voice. Johnny stopped. Then suddenly his hand was clasped in an iron grip. He looked to Asuka, who stood behind him, literally glowing with a white light, crushing the syringe in her hand. She threw Johnny away. He slid along the floor, rolling and smacked by the force and harshness of the concrete. He slowed to a halt and got up quickly. He looked to Asuka, whose auburn hair began to fly from the draft. Her expression was one of stern power. Her eyes were completely white, with only a fire within them. She seemed to radiate raw strength. Johnny scowled.

"Grew a bollock, did you?" He asked angrily. He felt his own rage boiling. "So you want another beating?"

"Johnny Showdown!" Asuka shouted suddenly, with a force that knocked him back. Suddenly, all the windows and doors flew open, allowing in a swarm of birds. Johnny covered his head as they swooped a little above their heads, like dead spirits watching the battle that was about to take place. They flung in a great circle as Asuka took up a fighting stance. "This ends NOW!"

"Too right it does." Said Johnny, drawing his yoyo, but he was inwardly nervous. What _had _just happened that made her so confident? He frightened her; he silenced and had _broken_ her. What was happening? "I'll just remind you who I am, you little bitch! I _am JOHNNY SHOWDOWN!_"

The fight began with Johnny flinging his yoyo, spinning and dangerously towards Asuka. However, Asuka rolled onto her knee and it flew harmlessly above her, embedding itself in the wall. She leapt onto the yoyo string, rushing to Johnny. Johnny pulled the yoyo back, forcing her to jump into the air. As she leapt, he flung the yoyo again. This time, however, it met its target, sending Asuka high into the air, and her blood even higher. She landed on her feet, taking up a stance again. Johnny's jaw dropped when he saw where the yoyo hit her.

"Where's the cut…" He murmured, for too long. Asuka had got past his defences and landed a tremendous kick flat onto his chest. She spun into a crouch on her foot, kicking Johnny up with the other. She began to spin wildly fast, elbowing and kicking Johnny as she saw fit, before finally landing another kick, smacking him straight across the room, caving the steel wall of the warehouse in and breaking through. The rain pitter-pattered onto Johnny's body as he got up again. Asuka came rushing forward, the flight of birds following and engulfing them like a tidal wave of black and brown. Johnny couldn't see Asuka's fists coming at him time and time again, causing him to yowl in pain.

"YOU LITTLE BITCH!" He screamed, swinging back wildly, angrily, with his yoyo. It tore the air, shredding and spinning and screaming as it went, as Johnny spun himself, a whirlwind of destruction. Even as the yoyo landed on the floor, it tore through easily, and it came at unearthly speed. Asuka leapt out of its range, waiting for a chance. Johnny stopped spinning as the yoyo became vertical, wailing and whirring like a machine. He watched Asuka, keeping the speed going.

"I'M GOING TO TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!" He wailed, out of mind and control. Emotion was all that was left. All his plans were breaking one by one, and he began to slaver and drool in anger. "I'M GOING TO TEAR YOU, AND BREAK YOU, AND BASH AND BEAT AND SMASH ND CUT AND RIP AND SLASH AND HURT AND BURN AND SNAP AND _**KILL**_ YOU!"

"Just try." Asuka said calmly. Johnny spat and screamed, his eyes piercing her like knives. He threw the yoyo at her at the speed of freight train. It spun like a bullet, hurtling, shredding through the air as if it could not be stopped. Asuka didn't attempt to move. The yoyo came within ten feet of her. She didn't move. Five feet. She didn't move. Six inches. She suddenly raised her hand, catching the yoyo in between its talons. It kept spinning, shredding through her bone and flesh. Johnny smiled as she winced in agony. He pulled the yoyo back, but suddenly dropped forward. He looked up. Asuka was still holding the yoyo. She crushed it in her bleeding hand, before it suddenly started to heal rapidly.

"No…" Johnny said, suddenly losing all nerve. Her once bleeding and broken hand now became white, and burst into a flame like no other existing flame. Johnny stood up. "No no no NO NO _**NO NO!**_" He backed away, fear now beginning to set in. "I HAD YOU! I ANNIHILATED MORRIS! I BEAT YOU BOTH! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU CAN'T!" He turned and broke into a run.

"This is for Morris." She said, punching the air. White flames escaped her hands and immediately engulfed Johnny. He dropped immediately, screaming and wailing like a mad man. As he did, the white light around Asuka collapsed in onto her. She felt stunned and dropped to her knees. "What… happened…" She looked up, her eyes beginning to close, just as she watched a burning body writhing in pain and anger. She reached out for it, thinking it was Morris, before falling forward, unable to go on.

Black took over her vision.


	13. And Yet Here We Are

**Chapter 13: And yet here we are**

**Disclaimer: Urgh, look at people, walking around, drinking cups of tea, getting bits of sandwich round their mouth as they eat, god they're disgusting; I say fuck people, people ruin everything, look at them; look at their eyes and their ears and their hair growing on their stupid fucking heads; they make me fucking puke, I wish they were DEAD, all of you, right now, I fucking ****hate**** you and I SINCERELY HOPE YOU ALL JUST FUCKING WELL ****DIE****! IN THE MOST BRUTAL, MOST oh, here's my tea. glug glug glug Ah, hello world. Isn't everything just pleasant?**

**A bit of a more boring chapter here. Just sort of linking stuff up to the last two chapters, which will be super awesome sexy.**

**Err, yeah, by the looks of my plans (what plans?), after this one, there's going to be three more chapters and ZEN IT VILL BE OVVER, MEIN FURHER!**

* * *

_Jinrei's meditation was uninterrupted. Calm. Serene. He waited for advice. He had hoped to finally gain some truth on Xiaoyu's whereabouts._

"_I can tell you that, Jinrei." Came a familiar voice. "Though you will not want to know." Jinrei turned around. Jun stood there, tears coming down her cheeks. Jinrei rose to his feet._

"_Tell me. Please." Jun sighed as Jinrei said these words._

"_You will hate me for telling you this…and you'll hate Morris even more." _

* * *

Morris didn't really notice anything when he finally woke up.

The whole world seemed distant, almost like a film. He could talk, he could see, he could hear. He was aware of everything that was happening. He could respond. But nothing felt real. He didn't feel any pain, or any emotion at all for that matter. His brain and body were simply on auto-pilot.

"Wellington-san, please." Came the doctor's voice.

"Yellow." Morris mumbled vaguely. He reached for the whiskey flask on the side table, but knocked it over by accident. He didn't even seem to notice.

"Wellington-san." The doctor asked, trying and failing to hide his impatience. "We've been asking you for an hour to pay attention." Morris didn't even register. He poked the corner of the metal table. The sharp point cut the skin slightly, leaving the line where it protruded Morris's fingertip white. He examined it for a while, before looking back to the doctor.

"When did you come in?" He asked. The doctor sighed.

"There are some people to see you." He said dejectedly. "Not that you'll notice them. Wellington-san, please take the blanket off your head." Morris turned his head around.

"Smells a bit funny in here." He said. "A bit like piss."

"Might be because you pissed yourself." Came a very familiar voice. Morris suddenly was dropped into the real world. The voice made him once again regain life, making him feel an emotion since he awoke. It was a cold bucket of water, a punch in the gut, a good hard smack on the cheek. He kicked up his legs, throwing the blanket into the air and rolling onto the floor quickly. He rocketed up, amazed at his own strength.

"You know, Asuka," He murmured, flexing his arms. "- I think nearly getting killed was the best thing to ever happen to me." He shook all his limbs experimentally. "I feel as if I could lift the moon. I'm better than ever!" He turned to face Asuka. "How about you?" Then he saw her. Her eyes held a tired misery. Her hair was still a mess, tangled and wild. She stood with no strength, almost unable to stand up at all. She looked into his eyes with a despondent stare. Morris stared back blankly. "So, cheer-up sex?" Asuka's eyebrows furrowed angrily. She gritted her teeth. She clenched her fists. Morris wasn't bothered. He saw no fire in her eyes, only amusement, and he could easily see her anger was forced. Her arms began to shake, and her lips curled.

"Same old Morris." She suddenly slammed into him, wrapping her arms around him. She fell into place with him in her grip, as her body began to warm for once. She felt as if she could hold on forever, as the cool breeze came in through the window and the first ray of sunlight she had seen in days came beaming through the window, shining through the remaining raindrops that remained upon the glass, making the floor seem made of yellow diamonds. Asuka's smile grew and grew as her mind calmed itself. She finally began to feel that everything was ok.

"I just jizzed."

"Thanks Morris, you really know how to keep the mood alive." She said, backing away, somewhat annoyed. She looked away, out the window and to the rising sun. Morris joined her gaze. "Morris, do you remember anything of what happened three nights ago?"

"Asuka… it's a nightmare I can't remember." Morris said. "I don't know what happened. I was bleeding. I passed out. I'm here."

"Same." Asuka said. "Though something tells me that he's dead…" She checked to the doors and the room, making sure no one was listening in. "… and that I killed him." Morris looked to her. She looked to him. She expected shock, or joy, or anger, or even disappointment. Morris's face held none of these things. It was a blank look of recognition, almost seeming as if he had expected to hear it. She decided to continue. "… something happened that night… to me. I can't remember what, but I just remember…"

"… remember what?"

"… just… white." She finally said. "And the songs of birds and the smell of nothing and the essence of everything."

"Deep." Morris said. "Sort of introspective thought I have after I have a wank."

A pause.

"…" Asuka decided what to say. "… yeah, just going to ignore that one entirely." She waited. "… where was I? No, I remember. It was just…"

"Funny. Milky. Sexy. Made of jam." Morris suggested.

"… weird." Asuka said. "I don't know why I know he's dead, or how I killed him, but I… just… did…"

Morris thought for a while. "Hang on, did you just say three nights ago?" Asuka blinked at him.

"Morris, we've both been out cold for three days." She said. "I woke up ten minutes before you."

"What about Xiaoyu?" Morris said.

"Has been awake the whole time." She said.

"Ask her what happened then." He said. Asuka shook her head.

"I haven't had chance to see her yet. I hear that she's in shock." She said. "She apparently hasn't spoken to anyone, not even the doctor." Morris curled his foot into the tiled floor, a stern frown upon his face. Asuka looked. "Why'd you ask?"

"Three reasons. One," Morris began; "– I might hate her guts, but I have a soul. Two, she's met Johnny." Asuka shuddered suddenly. Morris just held back his gasp as she suddenly glowed. She shone a bright white, almost as if she was on fire. Her irises vanished, replaced by a flare. Her skin looked like glass, shimmering like water and as hard as rock. Her hair shot up like a threatened animal. But the aura. Morris would never forget the feeling of raw power in that room, as it almost seemed to move the room. It was there for a second, and gone the next. Outside, dogs were heard to be howling in unison.

"Don't… say his name." She murmured. "… still gives me the chills." She looked as if she was about to cry. She shook herself. "Sorry, I'm being daft."

"No… you're not… Asuka?" She looked to Morris. "… I'm…"

"… yeah?"

_I'm so sorry, Asuka, for getting you into this. I should've told you that I had a price on my head, and that you were in danger, and I should've ran after the ambulance and I should've been aware of anything untoward…_

"Morris…"

… _and I totally could've handled him but he took me by surprise, so I'm sorry about that too, and also you didn't get to see me without my trousers, so you missed out there, sorry, and there's that dead rat I left behind the sofa at the room, but I had nowhere else to…_

"Morris!"

"… and I've never been in a spaceship…" He stared at Asuka for a while. "Which reason was I on?"

"Reason three."

"Three;" Morris raised his finger dramatically. "- somebody's not going to be pleased with the way Xiaoyu's in and the fact that … he's dead if what you say is true."

"What, who?" Asuka asked. "Who in their right mind would miss a despicable little cunt like… him?"

"I wouldn't say they were in their right mind." Morris said, looking to the door. "Three, two, one…" The door burst open. At the door stood Jinrei, his face a stone. Not an emotion shone, not a piece of life. His eyes held the coldness of an icicle, and his stare pierced like one too. Morris rolled his eyes. "So, Mr Miyagi, what dribble do you have today? Anything about devils, or Johnny's decent heart, or perhaps you've found the truth in voodoo and have brought us a chicken to slash up." He then jumped back as Jinrei swung a punch. The punch only just caught Morris, who bowled over in pain. "The hell, old man?"

"Why?" Jinrei asked. "Why did you do it?"

"Do what, save Asuka?" Morris asked. "Wouldn't you?" Suddenly he was punched in the temple, and forced to the ground by the vigour.

"You're a liar." Jinrei murmured, restrained, as if a dam in his throat held back his anger. "A cheat. A murderer." Asuka looked to Morris.

"And you're a mental, beardy, untrustworthy old twit." Morris replied. Asuka pulled at her hair. "Anything else, or do you want to lecture me some more?"

"Xiaoyu's in shock! Asuka's been beaten! Johnny's dead!" Jinrei suddenly shouted uncharacteristically. Even Asuka was taken aback at this new rage as Jinrei's eye pierced into Morris, who sneered in anger. "DO I NEED TO MAKE A CASE?"

"Yeah, well, maybe you should've believed me!" Morris shouted. Jinrei pulled Morris by the collar.

"BELIEVE YOU!" He threw Morris into the wall. Asuka stood forward to protest, but Jinrei ignored her. "YOU TRICKED XIAOYU INTO GOING TO FIGHT SOME KIDNAPPERS WHO WERE AFTER YOU! SHE WAS BEATEN! SHE WAS BROKEN!"

"AND SHE'D BE DEAD IF I WASN'T THERE!" Morris replied. Jinrei snorted sarcastically.

"HOW?" He asked. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO SAVE HER?"

"I GOT JOHNNY TO COME OVER, THAT'S WHAT!" Jinrei suddenly punched Morris. The force rippled through his cheek. Asuka pulled Jinrei away.

"Stop it!" She barked, but Jinrei elbowed her away. Asuka stood shocked. Jinrei turned to face her, and Morris leapt up suddenly. He threw Jinrei out of the way. Jinrei landed on his feet, but crashed into the wall, cracking it slightly.

"Why are you still blaming Johnny?" Jinrei asked. "I know Johnny better than anybody, he'd never kill." Morris rolled his eyes.

"WHO DID ALL THIS THEN, THE MAGIC MAN FROM THE SKY?" Morris shouted. "FACE IT, OLD MAN, YOU'VE BEEN HAD! WHO TOLD YOU ALL THIS? XIAOYU'S NOT BEEN TALKING FOR THREE DAYS AND ASUKA AND I HAVE ONLY JUST WOKE UP!" Jinrei suddenly gave away a small look of shock. He clenched his fists and raised them, reasserting his anger.

"I don't see why I should tell you!" He shouted. Morris began to laugh.

"You've been had twice, haven't you?"

"Morris, why?" Jinrei asked. Morris stood stunned. "You think you're not an evil man, so why?"

"Why what?" Asuka suddenly asked, looking to Morris.

"Xiaoyu was tricked into going the front way…" Jinrei told her. "Morris then went in through the back, leaving her to be attacked by his kidnappers. He framed Johnny..."

"That's bullshit!" Morris shouted. "Why would I frame Johnny? Why would I _need_ to? Johnny's evil! He's murdered countless people, and Asuka and Xiaoyu and I were all going to join them! He's a sick demented freak!"

"SO ARE YOU!" Jinrei shouted, his fists shaking and red. "YOU TRICKED XIAOYU, LEFT HER IN MORTAL DANGER! I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED YOU ORCHESTRATED THE WHOLE MESS!"

"That is insane!"

"Is it?" Jinrei suddenly began to calm, though clearly still angry. "I've heard many things about you, Morris Wellington. Your life on the streets hasn't gone unnoticed. Or your life behind that!" Morris snarled.

"Don't go there, Jinrei, you don't know me." Jinrei turned to Asuka.

"Should I tell you about a certain night, ten years ago?" He said. Asuka raised an eyebrow. Morris became confused. "… did he ever tell you what happened the night his mother died?" Asuka shook her head, looking to Morris, who sighed.

"Asuka, it was my uncle Spike." He murmured. "He had good reason to; he was a good person…"

"I'm not talking about Spike or your mother." Jinrei said. "It's the other one." Morris suddenly looked to Jinrei.

"What are you on about?" Morris said. He looked into Jinrei's eyes, which seemed to search through him, looking for the truth. Morris suddenly felt as if a searchlight was reflected onto his heart, and his own eyes widened. "… oh god no."

"Yes, Morris." He murmured sadly. "Do you even know what her name was?"

"You fucking well dare!"

"Morris, what does he mean?" Asuka asked.

"I mean, that Morris should finally tell you whether or not he is a murderer!" Jinrei shouted. Morris looked up. Asuka's world suddenly darkened. The pained look on Morris's face told her everything she needed to know. Morris looked to his shoes. He wanted desperately to vomit. Asuka suddenly felt crushed.

"You didn't…" She stepped back. "… no, no you can't have… no… NO!" Morris remained silent. Asuka suddenly felt weaker. "… you didn't…"

"… Spike killed my mum…" He said. "… because she had forced him to. She used to dismantle crime rings as private investigator of sorts… and there was a new rookie ring called the Stamfords… but they were far cleverer than anyone else before them, and quickly we were all in trouble… and she called Spike… and they decided… my mum decided that if she didn't die and take a load of them with her, then the Stamfords would kill everyone I knew within the month… and… and she wanted to buy them time…"

"This is insane." Asuka murmured, seeming to lose her already shaky stance.

"… so they filled the room from top to bottom with dynamite… and they waited for the Stamfords to come… and they came, and Spike blew the place up… and that should've been it… but…" Morris awkwardly squirmed, scratching the back of his neck with two hands like a guilty child. "… some of them had survived, and there was this bitch…"

"I'm not hearing this!" Asuka shouted, gasping for air.

"… and she… she was one of their big ones… and she tried to follow me…" Morris choked back a tear, himself desperate for air. "… and I didn't understand anything, and I reported Spike… and soon this bitch found me… we met in this alleyway… and she told me who she was, and that she wanted payback… and she began to chase me…"

"… this isn't real!" Asuka curled up on the floor, pressing her ears against her head.

"I was… was ten at the time and… and I didn't know what to do… and I was so angry when she told me what had happened… so I stopped running… and I grabbed an iron bar to defend myself… and I wasn't thinking and it… just… happened…"

"YOU CAN'T HAVE!" Asuka screamed and wailed, begging for it to be a lie.

"… I killed her." Morris finally said, drooping to the floor himself. "she had ran straight onto the end and it went right through her stomach… but she was still alive… and she still tried to

"THIS ISN'T REAL! I'M NOT HEARING ANYTHING!"

"… and I was scared and lonely and angry… so I pulled the pipe out and bashed her head… and she was dead. I went home… and my home was on fire… and Johnny Showdown had burnt the place to the ground… and if I hadn't reported Spike at all… then he'd have driven the Stamfords away… then all the people in that flat would still be here…" Morris scratched his eyelid with his fingertip. "… but they're gone becau… because I fucked up." Morris fell onto his back, looking up to the ceiling. "… sixty three completely innocent people are dead because I was angry, and I fucked it all up."

The sun still shone on, oblivious to what had transpired in the hospital room. The raindrops glistened like small suns. Second became years as Morris sat, shattered and broken, as Asuka looked. She tried to process what Morris had told her. She couldn't breathe. Her throat had clogged up. Her eyes watered and glistened. Tears fled from her eyes down her cheeks, dropping to the floor, embracing the cold hard touch.

"You see, Asuka…" Jinrei finally said. "Morris Wellington. Liar. Cheat. Murderer."

"I…" He lamely defended himself. "… I was just going to knock her out at first and… and she was going to kill me… what else was I going to do?" Asuka crawled over slowly to him. He looked up. "Please don't leave…" But Asuka didn't know what to do. Jinrei came over, and picked Morris up onto his feet.

"… and now you've killed Johnny Showdown, and you beat and broke Xiaoyu..."

"… no." Asuka said to Jinrei. "No he didn't." Jinrei looked to her.

"Asuka, what are you…" Jinrei stiffened. "You aren't siding with him, are you? This… murderer, this…"

"ENOUGH!" Asuka suddenly shouted. Jinrei was taken aback as the aura returned and left once again. Asuka looked to Jinrei harshly. "If you're so sure of what happened three nights ago, why won't you tell us who told you all this? And how do you know of what happened ten years ago?" Jinrei simply looked stunned. "I don't care what Morris has done in the past! I don't care if he's a liar! Or a cheat! Or even a murderer! BECAUSE RIGHT NOW, HE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO GIVES A SHIT ANYMORE!"

"Asuka, what are you…"

"MORRIS…" Asuka suddenly stood up, seeming to fill the room with her new found height. "… IS SO FAR THE ONLY ONE WHO SEEMS TO ACTUALLY TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANYTHING!"

"He's just spent ten years of his life running away from his problems, how is he…" Jinrei began, but was interrupted.

"YOU'RE SO DESPERATE FOR JIN TO BE STOPPED, AND YET YOU REFUSE TO DEFEAT HIM YOURSELF! WHEN I WAS KIDNAPPED, MORRIS COULD EASILY HAVE RAN AWAY AND ESCAPED JOHNNY SHOWDOWN FOREVER, BUT HE DIDN'T! WHENEVER YOU GO ON A WEIRD SPIRTUAL JOURNEY, YOU JUST SAY THAT YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO YET DON'T TELL ME WHAT YOU SAW!"

"Listen, Asuka…"

"Go Asuka! Kick him in the balls!" Morris shouted sheepishly.

"MORRIS HAS BEEN STRAIGHT WITH ME EVEN WHEN HE MAKES NO SENSE! HE HAS NIGHTMARES! HE'S TIME TRAVELLED! HE'S GONE THROUGH SHIT NEITHER YOU NOR I COULD IMAGINE AND IS THE ONLY LEFT WHO IS ACTIVELY TRYING TO DEFEAT JIN AT ALL!" Asuka stopped, breathing heavily. Jinrei looked to Morris, who seemed to have a smug look on his face.

"You know, I've never been on this side of an argument before." He said. Jinrei leapt for him, but Asuka suddenly batted Jinrei away. Jinrei was thrown into the window of the ward. It cracked heavily, not shattering but buckling under the strain. Jinrei looked to Asuka in horror.

"… I don't care who Morris was." She said. "I love him for who he _is, _and frankly there are more important things at stake right now than what Morris did ten years ago." Jinrei stood up. Asuka stared him down. "Get out!" Jinrei looked to the two, before running to the door. Sound seemed to leave with him, as did motion. Neither Morris nor Asuka moved nor made a sound. Morris could feel rage and anger tightening the

"You are so fucking hot when you're pissed." Came a small voice.

"Don't push it, Morris." Asuka said. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"… because I'd tried to forget it myself." Asuka looked to him. Morris stood up, still scratching his hair, looking at her rather bitterly. "She was scum, ok? She had stabbed a woman who had done her no wrong."

"How does that make it better?" Asuka barked.

"Could ask you the same about Johnny." Morris said. Asuka felt as if she had been punched in the gut. The blunt frankness of the words seemed to bring home the levity of her actions. Morris walked closer to her. "We all do things we know are bad." He said, slowly, as if still thinking of the words to say. "We all do things that are stupid, or dangerous, or just plain wrong. She was one of the few things I've done that I'm not proud of." His stare seemed to go right through Asuka, scanning for any sign of agreement or acknowledgement. "I can't say if I was right or wrong, only that it happened, and I can't change it."

The two said nothing for a while. They just looked at each other for a short time. Morris looked to the window. Asuka sighed.

"Morris, who are you?" She asked. "You just don't seem to be real. First time I met you, you were a drunken dickhead, then you were a tragic orphan, then you're a fun-loving carefree nice-guy, then you're desperate and panicky, then you're defensive and angry, and now you're a murderer." The look she gave Morris wasn't one of anger or hatred, but one of, to Morris's shock, sorrow. Her gaze simply shimmered, as if looking for a stick in a whirlwind. "So which is it?"

"I don't know." He replied. "If I knew, then my life would be a hell of a lot easier." He smiled to her rather suddenly. "Though thanks for sticking with me, babe." Asuka tried to think of a reply.

"Don't call me babe." She said. "You make me sound like your girlfriend."

"Well, you did say that you luh…" Suddenly Morris dropped forward _and he was somewhere else entirely._

"_Easy there." Came a calm voice. Morris looked up. Jinrei smiled at him. "Had a little too much to drink?" Though Morris immediately wanted to punch him in the face, he looked around first. The smell of the hospital was gone, as was the salt from the tears. It was replaced by soothing flowers and the fresh smell of newly cut grass. He looked around. People. All a manner of people. All in white. He saw flowers blow in the wind across the crowded space in the meadow, overlooked by a small house, Japanese in design, but with Western materials and layout. The house stood upon a cliff. Despite the warm, calm atmosphere, Morris instantly knew that none of it was real, and this unnerved him more than anything else. Morris looked to Jinrei._

"_Not enough drink." He murmured, running through the crowd. He barged and pushed past everyone he so much as brushed against, desperately hoping to find an escape. Then he saw Spike. He smiled and ran over. "Spike!" Spike looked to him. "Where the fuck are we?"_

"… _how do you know my name?" Spike asked him. Morris looked to him._

"… _what?" He looked around. He noticed the table behind Spike. "Actually, could you pass us one of those prawns?" Spike kept watching him, passing him a prawn on a stick. Morris nodded goodbye, and ran through the crowd some more. He looked around. He saw Xiaoyu, in the arms of some young looking, well built man who looked a lot like Kazuya. Her hair was long again, in cute pigtails and her classic school uniform. She looked to Morris._

"_Have we met?" She said. Morris rolled his eyes._

"_Oh, not you, you're the last thing I fucking well need!" He pushed past her. He was grabbed on the shoulder by her well built companion._

"_That's my girlfriend you've just pushed." He said. Morris turned around._

"_Look, piss off, will ya?" He suddenly looked behind the man's shoulders. He gulped. Johnny stood there, chatting to some young woman. Morris decided to act on impulse. "YOU BASTARD!" Johnny's vision snapped to Morris as Morris elbowed him. Johnny dropped to the ground, as Morris began sending fist after fist on him. Blood collected on his knuckles. Then he suddenly felt two arms snap under him and throw him off._

"_What the fuck d'you think you're doing?" The woman shouted. Morris looked up. Asuka stood there in a low cut bridesmaid dress, anger on her face. Morris's jaw dropped. _

"_The bride and groom are here." Came some indistinct voice. Morris didn't notice, gawping at Asuka._

"_Get out, prick, and stop looking down my top!" She shouted._

"_I just jizzed." He murmured in reply. He looked over. Kazuya stood at the centre of a gap in the crowd, beaming and smiling. The smile looked weird on his face, as if somebody was serving chocolate pudding at a Weightwatchers meeting. And linking arms with him was a woman who looked much like Asuka, with a few differences. She was taller, for a start, and much less stocky. Raven hair touched her small shoulders, her eyes gleamed violet. She too was beaming, with a brilliantly warm smile, until her gaze shifted to Morris. Then suddenly, the mood shifted, and Morris felt it. The wind picked up, colours began to fade, and the atmosphere became wire tense._

"… _what the…" She murmured. Suddenly everything other than her began to dissolve. "How did you get here?"_

"_Where is here?" Morris asked. The world became a black and red, incoherent spiral. A purple fog began to swirl around their feet as the bride looked straight at him._

"_HOW ARE YOU HERE!" She suddenly threw her arms out. Lightening fizzed across the span of her arms, as her clothes formed into black goo. It covered her lower body and her arms. Morris started to drool._

"_That is among the hottest things I've ever seen!" He shouted. The woman looked up._

"_Why is he here?" She asked. Then Morris looked up, and gulped._

_The wolf's black and purple fur rippled with delight as its snarl of razors pierced the fog that was its cold breath. Drool fell across its maw, and its claws curled with anticipation. It was colossal, easily larger than any building Morris had seen. Its yellow eyes glimmered like stars in the night sky that was its furry head, large and proud, standing upon a muscular torso. It seemed to be burning with blue flame as it shook with glee._

"I wanted to spice things up a little_." It said. "_I wanted to show him a _real_ liar! A real cheat!" _It shrugged its shoulders dancing its fingers around Morris. "_A murderer, as you called him." _It looked to Morris. "_I thank you, so I'll tell you now, Morris." _It sniffed his fear slightly. "_Devils are very real Morris. You're one of them!"

"… _if you don't crush me, I'll tickle your tummy?" He asked, suddenly having the hand slam onto him _and he threw his head up on cue. Asuka was over him on her hands and knees, shaking him awake.

"Morris, are you alright?" Asuka asked him. Morris stared at her. He looked around the room. The same hospital room. The same smell of tears. Same cracked window. Same tense atmosphere.

"I need a bit of fresh air." He murmured, before pushing her off him and bolting for the door. Asuka followed. They were outside quickly. The sky had darkened. The air was cool, the wind stinging Morris's eyes slightly as he looked into it, observing the grey plaza of fresh grass. Asuka walked over slowly.

"Morris, it's going to rain." She looked to him. He didn't say anything. She guessed what he was out here for. "Morris, about I said in there… I meant every word." She looked to him, but he wasn't concentrating. "I don't care about who you were. I know you wouldn't kill anyone if you weren't forced to, and I know you're a good..."

"Devils are real." Morris said. Asuka stopped.

"What?" Morris didn't say anything for a short moment.

"There was this wedding and Jinrei and Spike and Xiaoyu were all there and they didn't recognise me and Johnny was there and you were chatting to him and you were wearing this low cut dress so I could see your knockers and then this chick came along…"

"Morris, you're not making sense." Asuka said.

"… and this wolf was like 'devils be real, bitch' and Jin's a devil if I face him he's gonna use his voodoo on me and turn me into a Swiss roll or whatever…"

"Wait, Jin's an actual devil?" Asuka asked.

"… and I'm totally gonna get killed and I'm all like shit and I'm scared and I wanna go and I'm terrified and I'll die and there's still that dead rat behind the sofa that I didn't clear up…"

"MORRIS!" Asuka shouted. Morris looked to her. She looked for words, desperate to say something. "Why don't you just leave?" She asked him suddenly. She cringed instantly. _What kind of question is that, idiot? _Morris just stood there, unmoving.

"… you're here, I guess…" Morris said. Asuka looked to him. He looked to her. His eyes already had rings under their eyes. His face had more scars than ever, and his eyes now held a slight loneliness. She looked as a blonde strand of hair brushed lightly across his face. He suddenly clasped at his eye. "ARGH FUCK GET IT OUT GET IT OUT!" He bowled over, but Asuka didn't really notice, simply staring blankly into space.

_"Nuts to the flat chested queen of fairyland; frankly, I've got bigger priorities than a bad tempered kissogram."_

_"Like what? No wait, let me guess, you've got some breasts to ogle over rather than actually training for…"_

_"You, actually." Morris said, not a trace of a smirk._

"ARGH MY EYE HURTS LIKE FUCK!" Morris wailed.

_He sighed. "So this is how it's going to be." He walked over to her. "Asuka, if you stay here, Johnny will kill you, and I don't want that. But if you wanna end it all…" He then amazed her, kissing her on the cheek as a husband would to his wife before going to work. "– go get'em, baby." He walked over to the door and stepped outside with a spring his step._

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST SOMEBODY KILL ME ARGH!" Morris wailed.

"… _I don't care who Morris was." She said. "I love him for who he is, and frankly there are more important things at stake right now than what Morris did ten years ago."_

"Ah, it's out now." He said. Asuka looked to him. He looked back as if nothing bad had ever happened to him in his life, proudly holding up a strand of hair as if it were a trophy. "Sorry, you were saying 'bout the stuff you said?"

"Actually, Morris…" Asuka said.

A pause.

"… Asuka?" Morris asked. He lightly placed his hand on her wrist, and curled his fingers into her palm. She looked to him, observing his beady eyes, scanning for any hint of warmth. She looked up to the greying sky, as clouds swooped in like vultures, and began to throw down their gift to the earth, a cold unfeeling barrage of rain. Morris looked up. "Asuka, if you want to say what you were going to say before the rain gets heavier, that'd be perfectly cool with me." He tugged at her hand. She pulled at him suddenly, holding him back.

"Morris, why did you save me?" She asked. Morris raised an eyebrow. He looked to her eyes, which held uncertainty.

"Why wouldn't I?" He replied simply. He looked to the clouds once more as the watery barrage continued, becoming only more ferocious. "Asuka, this isn't really funny, I'm going to get soaked." He pulled and tugged. "Come on, bitch, let's get inside!" Suddenly Asuka pulled him back harder than before, throwing him around and sending him to the floor. He smacked straight into a puddle. Mud and water splattered across him. He looked up to a beaming Asuka, whose eyes and smile was mischievous and clever. He plucked a globule of muck for himself and launched it at her. It hit her cheek with a harsh slop. She started to giggle.

"Morris, you just don't have a clue, do you?" She laughed, wiping her cheek. She held the last droplet on her finger, balancing it easily, before sending it rocketing into the rising Morris, himself holding two handfuls of mud. He threw one at her as she ran to him, before she tackled him to the ground, sending the two back into the puddle. She looked onto him a short distance above, her head sheltering his from the rain, her hands slightly grazed by the landing, the pain ignored. "Get it now?"

"Nope." Morris said rather stupidly. A flash of disappointment skimmed across Asuka's face. Then she saw his smirk.

"Morris, you're such a shit liar. And you look like shit."

"And yet here we are." He said. The two laughed harder than they had in days.

"Why the hell am I doing this?" Asuka asked to nobody in particular, before locking lips with him, recognising warmth in him that had for a few moments seemed lost.

The rain didn't stop for hours, and while this didn't interrupt them, they did stop every so often at first because Asuka didn't like Morris grabbing her bottom every ten seconds.


	14. Familiar Faces

**Chapter 14: Familiar Faces**

**Disclaimer: People like us, we don't want freedom. We don't even want justice. We just want someone to love.**

**Two chapters, an epilogue and we are DONE, people. Weird to say, huh, seeing as this story's been going for over an hour. And also over a year. Bizarre, right? Guess what else has been going for over a year? Volley of Bullets. Well, it's being scrapped and restarted, and I need YOU, yes you, Dermot, to pick a better name, that is on my poll, or one you think of, it doesn't matter, the only thing you need to know is that I ORDER you to vote.**

**A bit of a boring long one here, mostly just jokes and filling in plot holes. And yeah, there's not been a fight scene for a while. That's because the rest is nothing but, so expect this to get marginally better, and by better I mean to slightly higher than my usual standard, so you might stop vomiting in disgust at the butchering of creative writing that's unfolding.**

**And also Asuka wears little more than a bra. This is therefore the best chapter of anything ever written known to man.**

* * *

"So, Asuka…" Morris began. "… how did we end up in a bathtub?"

The talon of a tree branch began to scrape at the window. It clawed desperately, supported only by the wind, rattling and screeching, until a white line came into being. Satisfied with the work, it relaxed once more. A bird was startled by the sound, but having looked around, decided that it was of no threat, and glided away into the yellow day, watching as the many heads of many people wandered on the streets below. The flight path was curved, landing it onto the window pane, where it began a shrill, harmonious song. It did not know why, but it felt that singing would be a good idea. To it's own surprise, many birds with the small impulse began to, compelled by an unknown force to sing a song. A glorious song, a song of romance and of triumph. A song that was completely content with the world. Asuka heard the song, rolled her tongue in her mouth slightly and pulled herself closer to Morris, sliding her arm over his chest and onto his shoulder and tugging lightly. She kept her eyes closed, a smile on her face, and buried her head into his naked back. The white plastic of the bowl didn't add to or detract from the smell of the bathroom, a hot but not heavy atmosphere, a warm blanket in the cold winter that was the chaotic world that was the previous day. She remembered somewhat the words Morris had uttered when she first asked him why he left England. Curiosity and adventure indeed. He was lying, lying for her sake. She inwardly knew that he was protecting her from even now so painful facts, but she understood. Now there was no need. The threat of Johnny Showdown had passed, and finally they were to be honest with each other. She pushed her lips through his hair and kissed the back of his neck lightly.

"How should I know?" She finally replied with another question.

"You're the sober one in this relationship." Morris told her as he began to stir. He placed his hand on the side of the tub and pulled himself out.

"I'm drunk." Asuka replied dramatically. "Drunk on love for you." Morris looked to her, confused.

"That was totally gay."

"Up yours, Morris." Asuka laughed. Morris watched her smile grow and shrink in size, though it never shrank in emotion. It was always the same face. The same joy. He didn't notice that he was also smiling, but he did all the same. He too, began to laugh as they fell into each other's arms. He began to stroke her hair.

"So, Asuka, how does it feel to be my first?" He asked.

"Underwhelming." She looked as his face turned to hurt pride and laughed. "I'm kidding." She pulled him in for another kiss. "And you?"

"I'm your first?" Morris asked. "But you're awesome and have awesome boobs, you must have guys dropping at your feet."

"Never even kissed a guy." Asuka said. "There was a thing with this one guy, but it was nothing, really. Just high-schoolers who didn't know what love is." She smiled, pulling him in harder than before. They remained lying down for a good ten minutes or so. They were warm in each other's embrace. It felt nothing could interrupt this one moment of peace after several weeks of chaos and turmoil…

… then the phone rang.

"FUCK OFF!" Morris shouted to the phone, finally standing up. He looked around the room. The beds had been ignored, and were untouched, neat and tidy. The floor still held the clothes belonging to the two. Morris unconsciously picked up some trousers, and hastily put them on. He finally reached the phone. He plucked it up simply. "What do you want?" He shouted down the line. "I was having fun, call back in a…"

"Morris. It's me."

The voice was a soft, slightly broken one. The voice seemed to gulp, holding back some unknown emotion. It was sad, angry and happy, all at once and neither at the same time. Morris's face was stunned for a few seconds.

"Hannah."

"Yes, Morris." She said. "Remember me?"

"Remember you?" Morris asked. "How could I forget?"

"You seemed to. What has it been, ten years?"

"Something like that." Morris twirled the cord of the phone around his finger and uncoiled it again.

"Ten years I've thought you were dead." The voice became bitter and cold.

"If I contacted you, I would've put you and Dad in danger." Morris explained. "How is Dad, by the way?"

"Dead." The frankness felt like a bullet. "Died seven months ago."

"Oh."

"…"

"Hannah?" Morris asked.

"Oh?" Hannah suddenly shouted. "Oh? That's all you can say?"

A pause.

"You know, Morris, I was beginning to adjust." Hannah began again. "I was beginning to cope. I'm the last one. Nobody else, but I can deal with that… and… and then…"

"Hannah, please, I…"

"YOU SHOW UP!" Morris almost leapt back as the voice carried a horrid anger. "YOU JUST… SHOW UP! ALL THESE YEARS, DAD'S BLAMED HIMSELF! HE'S BLAMED MUM! FOR YOU! AND NOW YOU JUST…" The voice stopped, and her breathing calmed. "Sorry, it's just been stressful for me."

"Don't be sorry." Morris became equally stern. "Where's Spike?"

Hannah seemed stunned. "Why do you ask?" She asked guardedly. Morris bit his lip.

"I needed to talk to him." He said. "About a woman he knew." She read his mind.

"Jun?" Hannah asked. "Jun Kazama, right?" Morris sat up.

"How'd you know her?"

"Her home was where he told us to meet him." She said. "Dad and I met up with her. She wanted to do some experimental spiritual thing. Spike was going to meet us after we had done it. We stayed with her for a week."

"Why would he send you to her?" Morris asked. "They were at each other's throats."

"Are you kidding?" Hannah asked. "He was crazy about her. In a weird fatherly way. He'd die for her." Morris raised his eyebrow.

"What? She was the same age as him, no, older. And anyway, she was trying to uncover his diamond smuggling…"

"What? She wasn't even part of the WWWC when he first went to Japan. She found out about the diamonds when she moved into his house! And she was only about twelve when they first met! Last time they saw each other, she was twenty two and he was thirty seven! Where the hell are you getting all of this…? Morris?" Morris had paused, trying to process the information. "Morris, you ok?"

"Not really." He said. "What happened to between them, anyway?" He could hear Hannah breathe in heavily.

"What's going on?" She said. "Tell me, Morris. You don't even care about Dad or me, ll you're asking is about this, so what's happening?" Morris looked to Asuka, oblivious to the tension that seemed to have filled the room. She smiled at him. He remembered the dreams he had, the wolf, Asuka's weird aura.

"I do care." He replied. "It's just that something big is going down here, and I need to know what." He scratched his forehead slightly. "Anyway, what did you say had happened that made Jun hate him so much?"

"How did you know that she…?" A short pause. "She wouldn't say. Something big. Something horrible." She looked around.

"Have you asked Spike?" Morris asked.

"Spike's dead, Morris!" Hannah suddenly barked. "He died before he could meet us."

"How?" Morris asked, but he already knew the answer.

"Johnny Showdown." Hannah said. "He knew Jun very well. I think she had a thing for him, but he was only interested in us. We managed to give him the slip at the airport, but only just. We had gotten on a different plane at last minute. Apparently he literally tore the other to pieces when he didn't find us. Butchered everyone and disappeared forever." She choked back a tear. Morris himself gulped. More people dead because of Johnny. If Johnny had known that Morris was still out there, he might have simply ignored everyone else and followed just him. He remembered that Hannah was still talking. "We saw him burying Spike's body, and…" Then she suddenly gasped. "Morris, he'll be after you now!"

"No. No he isn't."

The silence was a sharp ringing. A shower started up, a hot 'phissssshhhhh' sound doing all to fill the gap of noise, but it couldn't destroy the tension as Hannah began to piece it together.

"You…"

"I didn't, but yeah, he's dead." Morris answered frankly. "If the Stamford's plan on sending anyone, they'll hear about what happened to him, and they'll drop it. Johnny was the best at what he did, and if he's gone no right minded or experienced professional would want to." Hannah seemed to stop breathing. "Hannah, you there?"

"Morris, why are you still in the tournament?" She asked. "We don't have to pay the Stamfords off anymore, so why not just stop drawing attention to yourself?" Morris smiled as he looked into the bathroom.

"This isn't about me, Hannah." He said. "I've owe somebody a favour."

Another pause.

"You've changed, haven't you?"

"What?" Morris became confused.

"You're being selfless." Hannah said. "That never happens with you. What else has changed in these ten years, Morris?"

Morris thought for a short while.

"_Hey, Mum, look what I can do with some lime cordial, a spanner and my dick!"_

"Surprisingly little." Morris answered. "I've got to go. Come to Japan soon, we can talk about Dad and you and me and everything then."

"Remember, Morris." Hannah said. Her voice became bitter again. "Mum and Dad died for you. You better make it worth it, or I'll kill you myself." Morris tried to be shocked, but he could only acknowledge the sentiment.

"Thanks for the words of encouragement, Hannah." He said, before hanging up. He looked up to Asuka, dripping wet and looking livid. He slowly scanned her body, licking his lips. He began to smile lecherously. "You're wet."

"Who's _Hannah_?" She asked venomously. Morris laughed at her jealousy.

"My sister." He said. "Don't worry; the nearest thing you got to competition is Xiaoyu."

"Are you saying that I've got competition?" Asuka almost spat. Morris looked her dead in the eyes.

"Xiaoyu." He said. She thought about it, before looking back to him. She bent down to his level, a reassured and once more confident smile on her lips.

"Good point." She once again locked lips with him, dispelling the tension like a shotgun shell in a silent room. He began to pull her closer. She edged her head away, breathing heavily, her hands pressing onto his chest. "So, Morris, what was that trick with the lime cordial and the spanner you mentioned?"

"Get in the bed and I'll show you." He said. "Then you teach me something."

He had just come back with the two, but they were interrupted by a very sudden drowsiness.

* * *

"_I'm sorry the room's a little messy." Jun murmured. "I should've cleaned up, seeing as I knew you'd be here, but I was putting Jin to bed and the story I was reading got me a little carried away." She gave Hannah and Johnny a small white mug each, the hot orange liquid soothing Hannah's throat as she slowly swigged it. Johnny looked to the mug, and noticed that it was visibly shaking, the hot water swirling this way and that, a miniature ocean at boiling point. The hairs on his arms stood up. His nerves were still excited by the murder that he had just committed a few short minutes ago, and he felt s if he were in danger. Morris and Asuka glared at him from across the room, their bodies under a white blanket._

"_So, this is what happens to you when you sleep?" She asked. Morris shrugged._

"_Usually whenever I need to win a fight." He replied. "I don't know why it's happened now, or why you're here." He looked to her. "Though I can guess why we're only wearing underwear."_

"_Yes, Morris, I know." Asuka gave a dismissive response._

_A pause._

"_It was because we were having…"_

"_I know, Morris!" Asuka barked. "Focus, this could be important." Morris laughed._

"_Usually isn't." He murmured. He rolled his head like a child who isn't allowed outside. "Argh, this sucks! I need sex."_

"_Morris, what did I say about focusing?" _

"_I'm focusing on your body."_

"_I noticed Morris." She kept watching as Johnny drank the tea slowly, clearly unsettled about the situation. Asuka began to share his ill ease, when she became distracted. "Morris, has it occurred to you that I might have a problem with you trying to undo my bra?" _

"_I'm in the same room as titties, what problem _could_ there be?" Morris looked around the room. It _was_ messy. A great clutter of objects, some used, some ignored, some useful, some novelty, covered every bare inch in the small poky room like a hideous blanket upon a sleeping form. It was clear from the wind that needed not air freshener to smell pleasant in the room, the stainless walls and carpet and curtains, yet most of all just how purposely placed each item was that this was not how the room was usually. This was the result of a great stress. Morris snorted slightly. "It's not like anything important is happening."_

"_Now for the important thing to happen." Came Jun's voice as she re-entered the room, a candle in hand. Johnny smiled pleasantly, hiding his nervousness, while Hannah looked to her, almost uninterested. Jun sat so as to form a triangle with the other two. She leant forward and lit the candle. "Now to set everything right." She murmured under her breath, but Asuka picked up on it. It was a much sterner tone than that of her pleasant greeting. Asuka judged Morris's shoulder._

"_Morris, look." She said, forcing Morris's gaze away from her body and back to the scene unfolding. Jun's head fell back. Hannah closed her eyes. Johnny's convincingly narrowed his eyes, but stayed awake. He leant forward and shook Jun slightly. A lack of response made him smile. She was out cold. He stood up._

"_Diamonds." He hummed. "If this is where Spike was coming…" He grinned that familiar grin that made Asuka shudder in horror. The same grin that haunted the video tape. The grin he wore when he nearly killed Morris. An almost slobbering greed and thirst. "… then they'll be here." He carefully but hastily got to the other side of the room. He passed through Morris, oblivious and uncaring. Morris gasped at the frightening cold that came wand strangled him._

"_You alright?" Asuka's mood with Morris suddenly became a lot more tolerant as her voice carried the concern that she felt for Morris, who coughed violently._

"_Like being punched in the gut by a brick." He seethed. _

"_What in the name of…" Johnny let out a small, breathless sentence, as quiet as the flutter of a moth's wing. Asuka and Morris turned to him as he turned to them, looking right through them and checking on the sleepers. When he was sure that they were not awakening, he turned back to the small black book that he held, the book itself having three large red W's on the front cover, underlined by the words 'TOP SECRET; TO BE READ ONLY BY WRITTEN PERMISSION OF BOSKONOVITCH, GEPPETTO, OF WANG, JINREI, AND OF KAZAMA, JUN'. Morris and Asuka crept over. What was in the book was this:_

**As is only just beginning to be understood, the power of certain individuals is a mysterious phenomenon, that without prior scientific research and understanding, many people would call magic or supernatural. Certain anomalies found in the blood of certain families or individuals (these people who are known or thought to have these anomalies are listed in Section 2.5) have mysterious 'powers' as it were. These powers are ranged and... **_(Johnny skimmed through all of this, picking up information without actually reading, until he found something on the Kazama family. He bit his bottom lip as he read) _**… it seems that the Kazama family has a strong line of these mysterious powers. Not unlike those with the elusive Devil Genome, they have a strong amount of power that can heal wounds, levitate objects, have superhuman strength at times of great stress or heightened emotion **_(Morris also bit his lip, remembering Asuka's aura back at the hospital)_** and make external forces to be used defensively or offensively. However, unlike the Devil Genome, these powers do not manifest in a mutation, but in an internal sense. As such, the powers they have are more inclined to the mind. Telepathy and controlling the will and emotion of animals amongst other unknown things are included amongst these. **

_Asuka looked to Morris. "You know, animals have been acting really strange around us lately, you don't think that…"_

"_I thought I just had some food in my pocket." He replied. "That is an awesome power, Asuka."_

"_Personally, I thought time travelling was pretty impressive."_

"_Totally underrated." He looked back. "Look! Speak of the devil, time travelling!"_

"_What?" Asuka murmured, looking back to the book as Johnny's fingers curled around it in anticipated greed, as his mind worked to find a way to use this to his own ends._

… **however, possibly the most mysterious of these abilities is the ability to 'revisit' points in their life, both in space and time, when in a deep trance. **_(Morris clicked his fingers. _So that was the reason behind all this messed up stuff_, he thought.) _**From the experiments we have conducted, we can hypothesise that, when meditating with somebody who knows a person of particular importance of the Kazama's life and also somebody of great emotion (a child close to puberty or a teenager as a couple of examples), they may be able to impact certain events, such as talking to people in that past or even holding items. We do not know if this hypothesis is accurate, and experiments attempting to impact the past have proven unsuccessful, but we have yet to find a real conclusion…**

_Around the last sentence was a large red ring, with the words 'Stop Spike' written besides it in Jun's handwriting. Johnny looked back to the sleepers. "Oh…" Johnny murmured, his eyes once again becoming greedy starlets. Asuka and Morris looked straight to the direction of his gaze. Hannah still slept oblivious to the impending danger as Johnny began to snarl greedily, a beast that has had prey stumble into its territory. "Somebody who knows a person of particular importance, Hannah?" He stood up, drawing his omnipresent syringe. Morris gasped. He turned to Asuka._

"_Asuka, zap him!" He shouted. Asuka looked to him._

"_What?" She asked._

"_You read that book! You're Wonder Woman or some shit like that! Use your lazer eyes! Get a lion to attack him! Turn him into a monkey! SOMETHING!"_

"_Don't know how!" She shouted back. "I can't just make a bird fly in by magic!"_

"_You didn't have trouble when you didn't know you were doing it…" The argument was interrupted by a familiar singer singing an unfamiliar melody, as the bird's flight path expertly navigated past the window and into the room. Johnny's hand halted it's slow and silent progress in midair as he watched the bird circle above him. He snarled._

"_Dumb animal." He silently spoke, before looking back to his target, who was inches away from the syringe. The insult carried, and somehow the little bird understood, diving into his fist with alarming speed. His eyes widened as his syringe flew across the room. He dived for it, but it rolled away as if on command. It was sent through a gap in the glass of the window and was gone forever. "Shit!" He whispered. He then heard a moan. Like a bullet out of a gun, he was back to his original seat. Hannah's eyes blearily opened. The first person she looked at was Johnny. He stared back, and electricity seemed to flow between their eyes, thundering and raging. The two weren't just suspecting each other now. They _knew _who the other was._

"_Showdown." Hannah spat. "I should've guessed when I saw you." Johnny leaned forward._

"_Want to see where your uncle's going to be buried, Wellington?" He slowly asked. The he looked to Jun, who also began to stir. Her chestnut eyes started to wince._

"… _no…" She muttered sorrowfully. Johnny gulped. He guessed that the game was up. He slowly but surely reached for his trusted yoyo. Jun stood up quickly and walked over to the window. "DAMMIT!" She suddenly shouted, scaring even Johnny with the boiling rage and desperate hurt that flowed through her voice. "I COULD'VE CHANGED EVERYTHING!" She began to scream, sliding to her knees, wailing and crying as she did. Johnny and Hannah looked to one another. Jun didn't notice the two's clear hatred of the other, currently distracted by her own pains. Asuka suddenly felt sick. To see a family member like this was a hideous sight._

"_Argh, does she ever shut up!" Morris moaned. Asuka punched his elbow. "Oh what? Her voice is so fucking annoying when she screams!" Asuka scowled, but then she started to feel sympathy when Jun's voice became a lot more blubbery, like a sea animal. Then it became breathless, stopping and starting at random. Asuka was sorely reminded of when Xiaoyu lost her favourite key chain a few months ago._

"_Alright, you win." She admitted to Morris. "But still, what do you think happened?"_

"_I don't know!" He replied. "I just want her to get over it quickly!"_

_Finally, Jun calmed down. Her shoulders shook with what could be sorrow, rage, hatred or all three. Her cheeks were flared, and her eyes matched the colour. Her brow furrowed. Her hands were clenched to the point of the knuckles becoming as white as the bone that created them. She looked to Johnny._

"_John." She looked to Johnny. He blinked, surprised. Nobody ever called him John, always Johnny. "You knew Spike Wellington. Did he have a brother?" Johnny's upper lip twitched at the right side._

"_I know he had a sister." He said. He decided to play along with Jun, hopefully squeeze some more information out of her. Another Wellington was another day's pay. "What was he like? I'll probably know him when I hear about him." He asked. Jun's teeth were bared._

"_Scum of the earth." She spat. "A smell as foul as he is. A complete wreck. Beady eyes, bony body, weird, spiky fingers. Inhuman." Then she uttered the words that told Morris exactly who this mysterious 'brother' was. "A liar. A cheat. A murderer." Morris looked to Asuka, whose look of concerned confusion matched his own. "Morris." Johnny pretended to think about it, but in his eyes, all other than Jun could quite clearly see that he was astounded. They became glazed, as if still working if that was what she said._

"_Know of him." He finally answered, shaky and nervous. "Never knew the guy." He looked to Jun. "Why'd you ask?" Jun's expression suddenly shifted. Her eyebrows raised as her eyes began to water. She suddenly slammed into Johnny and buried her head in his shoulders. He sat frozen, his mind still reeling from all the new information to process. Then there was that book. He'd have to snatch it somehow. Morris smiled nastily._

"_Look at him, trying to convince somebody he's a human being." He smirked. Asuka looked to him. He smiled to her. She nodded to him, but didn't smile, her brow rutted with thought less than anger at the joke._

"_Hannah, are you leaving tomorrow?" She asked slowly. Hannah nodded. Jun nodded to her. "OK, I'll phone your Dad as soon as I can."_

"_I need to leave tomorrow, too, I'm afraid." Johnny began, but Jun pulled him into her hug harder than before._

"_Stay." She begged. "Please." Asuka shuddered. The idea of somebody wanting Johnny around wasn't just alien. It was insanity. Her expression matched Johnny's look of confusion as the world began to crumble back into white _and she threw herself up. Morris's head bolted up too.

"Morris!" She shouted. "Have you ever seen Jun before? This could be seriously important!" She waited for a response. "You're trying to undo my bra again, aren't you?"

"Can't work out the clip." He said. She batted his hand away. Her glare reminded him of her question. "I saw her when I time travelled once, and that was it… hang on…" He clicked his fingers. "Night we first met. I slept in that tree she planted!" Asuka snorted.

"That's kind of weak." Morris waved the excuse away.

"No, no, she was in a stupid dream I had then." He sighed. "It totally sucked. And then there was the wedding thingy." Asuka bit her lip.

"But why is this happening to you?" She asked. Morris shrugged her shoulders.

"Who gives two?" He asked her. "I've got bigger priorities."

"Like what?" Asuka asked. "What's more important to you right now than what we've just seen?" Morris smirked.

"You don't have a clue, do you?" He said, before suddenly bringing her head closer to his. She, however, pushed him away, laughing.

"That was way gayer than my 'drunk on passion' one." She shouted with a smile once again crawling onto her face. Morris, despite being insulted, was glad that she was able to smile after what they had seen. "You suck, repeat, _suck _at making romantic moments."

"That's part of my innocent charm!" Morris said, hurt. "And besides, puddle in the rain. Beat that." She crawled over to him as the way sideways on the bed. She unconsciously tried to match the position she had when they were in the aforementioned mud.

"Hotel room." She said. The phone began to ring. "Oh, for fuck's sake." She picked it up. "What?" Morris smiled politely as she listened. Her brow became more and more rutted. She put the phone down after a few seconds. "Your last fight is four hours away." She said. Morris smirked with the same devil smirk he wore whenever he so much as thought about Asuka,

"Four hours..." He smiled. "How much do you think I do in four hours?" Asuka shook her head.

"No, I'm not saying it."

"Oh, come on." Came the childish response. "Please _please_ _**please**_ _**please**_ _**PLEASE?**_" Asuka rolled her eyes.

"_You can do me."_ She reluctantly sighed. Morris laughed harshly. "I fucking hate you, Morris Wellington."

"Then why are you only wearing a bra?" Then he gawped. The bra fell onto his chest with a gentle bump.

"What bra?"

* * *

Four hours later

He less gnashed at the cigar as grind it into a pulp.

He watched without thinking as the leaf in the wind blew this way and that. He scowled with burnt lips, upon a charred skin face. He knew that _they_ would come to this place. That _he _would come to this place. That _she _would too. The night sky was illuminated by the spotlights that shone from the sides around the arena. They flickered wondrously, hoping to excite the audience as they flashed red and blue and green. The crowd kept cheering, but his ears simply ignored this noise, hearing only sounds that would matter. Heihachi's footsteps as he walked along the step plate metal and sat on a metal bench. Waiting. Like him. Waiting for _him_. The one who caused this. The arena was a grand affair, a blaze of light that shone like a white diamond in the yellow and red lights of Tokyo. And yet the only one who wasn't illuminated was the only one who knew what would happen. He planned this for three days. Three days of pain. Of blinding agony. Of burning hatred. Of subdued anger. He scanned the crowd, his eyes watching from blackened skin. He spotted _her._ The burns on his skin seemed to flare as he saw _her_. He seethed with pain, but he remembered that it was partially his fault. He hadn't read the book in ten years, and even then two years after he got it. Not now, though. Now it became a holy scroll, the secret between life and death. Providing him with all he needed to know. How the _hell _could he forget about _her? _What that _bitch _could do? Not to matter, he thought. What has happened happened, and he'll get _her _back before long. He gave the cigar another suck, puffed out of the other corner of his mouth and sat down.

The wooden crutch was placed beside him. It was lined with a heavy and sharp metal. He could feel the cool air stroke his face, causing pain like needles searing into him. He pulled his hood across his head with a brown hand made almost solely of bone. The orange cotton kept the nasty breeze away, the one that refused to stop hurting him. His jeans were mostly untouched, unlike the rest of him. Though one of his legs that been all but destroyed. Completely obliterated. It flared up with agonising pain as it touched the ground. He lightly rebalanced it on the floor, before pressing down hard. He bit his lip. He wanted to scream in agony. But no. He must get used to it. He was already used to the pain. Pain was no hindrance if one ignored it. He kept the piercing stare at _her_ as she walked through the VIP ONLY door, walking to the front row, sitting down next to an old man. The two stared at each other hatefully. The old man looked briefly for somewhere else to sit, but saw no other place. They looked to each other.

He considered just letting his gut take him. He considered going up to _her _right now. The one who did this to him. The one who saved _him. _The one who ruined everything. He snarled hatefully, but remained where he sat. No. He wouldn't. He'll wait. He had waited for three days, but his hopes were still high. He was actually happy. He had three days in pain, yes, and there'd be many days of pain to come, but it'd be worth it. He knew it. If not for the money, then for the satisfaction. The satisfaction of _his _look of astonishment. The horror. The fear. The pain. The satisfaction of watching _him _waste his last minutes desperately crawling for a way out. The satisfaction of watching _her _break as _he _died. The satisfaction of killing _her_ too. _She_ would die quicker, sadly, but he was willing to compensate. He would do anything for this. Knowing that he had won after all. He had beaten _them._ No mistakes. No second chances. Nothing. _They _will die as soon as they step into the trap. Once _he_ is out of that arena. He knew it was certain. _He _can't lose. _He _is too good, even for Jin Kazama. Especially Jin Kazama. Nothing is going to stop _him_ from winning, and the moment _he _does is the moment _he _dies. He prepared for every eventuality. Even if what happened last time happens again, he knew what to do. He had practised. Now he could do with a crutch and a burnt body in great pain what ten men could do when fighting fit. Three days may sound like a short time, but he knew that three days of nothing but hatred and anger will push a man to any level need be. He smiled. It was a hideous smile, one of great malice and of joy. It was a very real smile, the one that was born of true joy. One that was born of evil. _She _was wrong. It didn't end then. It would end tonight. It would end in less than two hours.

Johnny Showdown started to laugh, but it quickly became a hacking cough. He retched for horribly painful ten seconds, supporting himself on the crutch. When he was sure he had stopped, he sat back, smiling once again, and waited for the carnage to begin once more.


	15. Black Panties

**Chapter 15: Black Panties**

**Disclaimer: La lo lu le li la lo lu le li.**

**A shorter chapter this time around, but it's mostly a fight scene, and it sets up the next one nicely, I feel. The next one won't be for a while, though, because it will be massive.**

**Now read, preferably in a silly voice to make it sound twice as funny.**

* * *

Fist clenched.

Fist unclenched.

Fist clenched.

Morris's fingers imitated his beating heart, nervous and excited. They scratched across the palm every time, trying to turn the softness into a red raw. He had decided that he needed every chance he could pull, and hardening his palms wouldn't be a bad idea, he supposed, so hence his scratching. His footsteps were slower, heavily slamming on the concrete that was beneath his foot. The dark corridor he stood in was walled by steel, almost lightless besides the small, flickering bulbs under Morris's feet, along the side of the corridor. His smile didn't falter, despite the gloomy atmosphere clinging in the air around him as he finally reached the end of the corridor and entered the dark room that would be the final step before his fight with Heihachi and winning the prize money. The room was big enough for the purpose; cramped yes, and certainly a lot smaller than the grand arenas and stadiums Morris had fought in before. He actually felt glad. It reminded him of the streets which he had grown an attachment to. Almost nothing could be seen in the darkness, though Morris had grown used to it, and could clearly see that Xiaoyu and a man were there, waiting. It was a three-sided room, all with doors at each corner, all with each fighter at each door. Morris sighed. _I had to be the late one._ He barely noticed the corridor seal behind him. He was trapped now. He looked to Xiaoyu. He couldn't actually see her too well. There was only one source of light now, and it barely lit up her at all.

"What's up, bum for brains?" Morris said. She turned her head, noticing him for the first time. He couldn't see her face, though he could tell that she was scowling.

"… you." She mumbled. "I thought I smelt pond scum." Morris sneered.

"Ha dee ha dee ha." He replied. His eyes quickly flashed over to the third man. He was built strongly, wearing nothing besides some Gee trousers and remaining perfectly still. "Do I know you?" The figure turned to him, basking his face in the light and revealing the very image of Kazuya Mishima, besides a more youthful face and a long fringe.

"You should." He said. Morris recognised the voice, smiling

"So you're that prick everyone's been talking about." He said. "May I say that your hair as ridiculous as your dad's?"

"Mocking me is not the best of plans, you little runt." Jin's voice was simple, stating indisputable facts, bored and uncaring, not considering anything worth the honour of even licking his boots. Morris shrugged his shoulders and looked to Xiaoyu.

"You had the hots for this prick?" He asked. "He's a broom handle shoved so far up his arse he's going to choke on it."

"Shut up, Morris!" Xiaoyu suddenly shouted. "Can't you just shut up and look around for a second?" Morris laughed.

"What did I do now?" Morris said. "Are you going to go into a whole 'you've hurt people, you're a bad person' bull-crap, because your granddad did that plenty, and fancying the guy who started World War Three doesn't exactly qualify you to lecture me, so suck my huge hairy juicy bollocks, bitch." Xiaoyu stood still.

"I meant here, moron." Xiaoyu said. "There's two of us and one of you, and I've already beaten you once, so you should just roll over and surrender."

"Isn't this a three way fight?" Morris asked. "Only one of us gets to fight Heihachi… oh you twat-muncher."

"Made sense, Morris." Xiaoyu's voice began to hold certain smugness. "Two take on one and then the other. And as for this so called 'bull-crap', maybe people have a point when they tell you just how bad you are."

"Oh, just bury your head in some candy floss and stop pretending as if you know me."

"I don't have to pretend, Wellington!" Xiaoyu spat. "And I don't have to tell you anything!"

"What do you know about anything?" Morris shouted. "You can't tell that Jin's evil when he practically started World War Three and treats everyone around him like dirt, so what makes you think that you can say anything about how good or bad a person I am?" The walls began to collapse, revealing that they were in the stadium. The night sky was a grand purple, punctured and peppered with spotlights of all colours, as the surrounding crowd filled the previously-silent arena that was now revealed to be a cage with cheers and boos and all a manner of noise. However, the three fighters remained silent. Jin was uninterested in the conversation, scanning the crowd with his eyes, while Xiaoyu's hands clenched into fists, the smugness in her voice already gone but now being replaced with a brutal honesty as she spoke these words;

"Johnny Showdown." She told Morris, as if it were answer enough. "You didn't see the tape he sent, but maybe you should ask Asuka about it and she'll give you a good perspective of what you started." Morris felt as if he was punched. He was shocked at the answer. Where the hell did _this_ come from? "He was after you and only you. I was only dragged into this because you wouldn't solve it by yourself. Asuka an even more pointless reason." Morris gulped, and began to choke. "Johnny wasn't here because he was evil. He was here because you were running from him and whatever other baggage you might have, and it all caught up. And what happened?"

"Look, you moron, how is this any of my…"

"HE BEAT HER!" Xiaoyu suddenly shouted. "He probably spent all day smacking her around like a stress egg and I…" Xiaoyu scratched her arm, wincing. Morris tried to shrug the answer off, but he couldn't. He reluctantly knew that she was right. "I was…" She trailed away, before looking back at Morris with renewed rage. "And you? The person Johnny was after in the first place?"

"Babe, did you see what he did to me with that yoyo? I was his personal fucking scratching post."

"Yeah. Now imagine a whole day of that. That's what happened to Asuka! You got lucky! Compared to her, you came out with a scratch. I'm not telling you if you're a good or a bad person, because I don't know. I don't know what you stand for, or what you want from this world, whether its world peace or just lots of sex. What I do know about you, Wellington, is that you just can't deal with anything yourself. Johnny was your problem, but Asuka and I bared the brunt. Not you. Us." Xiaoyu then finally declared her final ultimatum. "So if the rest of the world's wrong about you, Morris Wellington, why can't you prove it is?"

Morris counter-pointed these words in the usual manner.

"So, when did you grow a brain cell?" He asked. "Do you really think spinning words like that makes you sound like an adult?"

"I don't know." Xiaoyu said. "Do you really think your mother would be happy to see what you are now?" She watched as Morris's head began to turn red.

"Low blow, bitch." He spat. Xiaoyu leered slightly, knowing when she had really gotten under Morris's skin. Another person, she would never dream of saying anything, but Morris was the exception, not the rule. He had humiliated her, then she humiliated him. She wasn't going to keep the score even for too long. And then there was the incident.

"I learnt from the best." She said, dropping suddenly so her head was level with her knees, which too declined in height. Morris snarled angrily, cracking his knuckles, flaring his nostrils.

"Well, clearly you're stronger than me, seeing as you need to ask your boyfriend to beat me up." He said, rolling his neck and shoulders, hearing the crackling of joints. Jin finally took notice.

"I'm not her boyfriend!" He retorted. Morris sniggered, looking to Jin then Xiaoyu once again.

"Wow, just being associated with you is an insult to him. You two clearly share something special!"

"I've beaten you once, Wellington!" Xiaoyu shouted. "I can do it twice."

The bell finally chimed a fairly over-done and melodramatic clang that echoed throughout the stadium, supported by cheers and boos of the audience. Xiaoyu was the first to move, throwing herself in Morris's direction and launching a mid-air kick that landed squarely in his chest. However, as she bounced away to regain some ground, Morris grabbed the offending foot and swung Xiaoyu away in one great movement. He then ducked his head, narrowly avoiding a powerful punch from Jin. He spun on his heel and dropped, smacking Jin's calf and forcing his left arm in-between Jin's legs.

"Say, did you know I fight dirty?" He asked, suddenly bringing his arm up in an almighty strike. He suddenly heard a snap, and felt a rocketing pain across his arm. He looked to his hand, which Xiaoyu had caught before it hit Jin, and had begun to twist it. "If you ever wanted to reach down there and grab something, Xiao, I bet this isn't what you had planned!" Xiaoyu suddenly twisted harder, and Jin pushed his heel into Morris's face, who wailed in pain. The foot pushed him along the hard metal floor, sending him a good few feet. He scrambled his feet desperately for grip, only just stopping himself as he hit the grated fencing. He clambered forward, meeting an advancing Jin. He gave two quick jabs, one blocked and one not. He attempted to follow up the success, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back as Xiaoyu sent an elbow that felt more like a mortar shell to his spine. Jin punched Morris, holding him by the collar. Morris groaned. It was a brick wrapped in barbed wire as far as he noticed. Jin then began to punch him a few more times, each time making Morris think that he was fighting a bulldozer. Xiaoyu also punched him, but not with quite the force, though made up for it with rapid speed. She began to laugh with glee.

"Make a joke now, Wellington!" Xiaoyu shouted, before pulling at the suit jacket and throwing him onto the ground like a hateful child would an unappreciated ragdoll. Morris choked slightly, rolling onto his stomach. He muttered something too silent to hear. "What was that?" She asked proudly. Morris turned his head to her.

"Duck." He breathed. Xiaoyu suddenly did as he commanded, narrowly avoiding Jin's punch. She was stunned, looking at Jin's unfeeling eyes.

"What are you doing?" She asked. "I thought we were teaming up until Morris was out?" Jin sneered.

"Look at him." He said. Xiaoyu turned. Morris wasn't exactly the greatest of threats, it was true, and it pained Xiaoyu slightly. Now for the hard part. The time to prove everyone wrong. She was going to prove that she wasn't just 'Jin's cheerleader' or 'Jin's stalker' or 'some stupid girl who couldn't grow up'. She turned to him, raising her fists. Jin seemed dumbfounded, before guffawing callously. Xiaoyu's cheeks went red as his laughter became louder than even the crowd. "Seriously?" Jin asked. "You? Fight me? Please. Go back to your grandpa and practise for a few years, then I may consider the idea that you might be worth fighting."

"DON'T LAUGH AT ME, KAZAMA!" Xiaoyu suddenly roared, punching Jin square in the face. He was thrown back with mighty force, landing and rolling clumsily, before finally sliding lazily into the fence. Xiaoyu gasped at her own anger. _Did I seriously just punch Jin? _She almost apologised as Jin rose to his hands. Across his cheek was a nasty cut, bleeding freely. This cut he stroked, observing the blood to see if it was actually real.

"Did you… just…" Jin looked up to Xiaoyu, freezing her with a glare so hateful, so bone chillingly angry and murderous, she was sure that he had become some sort of demon. In fact, he was getting to that stage, as the markings on his right arm suddenly began to move. Xiaoyu watched this, beginning to choke. "… punch me?" Jin's eyes widened as the whites began to yellow slightly. His already messy hair began to contort, as if something was pressing it from underneath, as a red diamond pushed its slow way through his forehead. The markings began to spread across his body in a horrific purple flame. Xiaoyu stammered, dropping to the floor in shock. "HOW DARE YOU!" Jin's sudden rage-filled scream forced all the audience to silence. Dirtied ivory horns began to pierce their slow way through his hair, before two black feathered wings flung themselves out from his back dramatically. Jin looked to Xiaoyu. "HOW DARE YOU EVEN TOUCH ME, YOU LITTLE FUCKING WHORE!"

"Congratulations are in order!" Came a sole, cheerful, tormenting voice. Jin's head slowly, deliberately, turned. Heihachi walked over to the cage, clapping his hands slowly. "Well done, Xiaoyu! You've managed to embarrass my grandson to the point of transformation!" He looked to Jin. "Couldn't handle your little girlfriend, so you had to bring up the devil genome just to deal with her? No wonder I won last time." Jin suddenly smiled horrifically, his teeth yellowed and sharp, forming a disgusting grin.

"Wait for your turn to face me." He snarled as if he were chewing. "We all die in line here." Heihachi snorted.

"Just finish this already." He said, bored and uninterested, turning away. He looked to Jinrei, who had stood up, but was forced away by Tekken Force soldiers. He shrugged his shoulders. "I'll defeat him later."

"W-what?" Xiaoyu murmured sheepishly, almost unable to speak as Devil rose to his feet. His eyes burned with dispassionate loathing. He walked over incredibly slowly, but Xiaoyu couldn't move. Cold fear gripped her, held down her legs and closed her mouth. Devil raised his hands, once mighty and proud fists, now hideous looking talons, and he suddenly clasped them around her neck. He pressed in, squeezing and pushing, desperately clawing for her breath.

"Now, Ling Xiaoyu, you will die." He said as Xiaoyu began to be lifted off the floor. Her legs shook desperately as she clawed at his talons desperately. However, even after three or four seconds, she began to feel her eyes close. She was hanging for a mere few seconds, yet it felt like hours. She was unaware of all the horrified screams and exclamations of 'We're all doomed' as the world became a blur.

"NO!" Came Jinrei's despairing voice.

"STOP!" Came Asuka's angered voice.

"Say, are you still wearing those fur lined panties?" Came a familiar sneering tone.

"What?" A breath accompanied by a gargle escaped Xiaoyu's mouth, before suddenly she felt a sudden wind running along her back and towards her abdomen. The wind gripped harshly at her posterior, before suddenly whirring around to the left of her and roaring away from her. She regained consciousness as she heard a whip crack and felt Devil drop her. She looked to the murderous beast, which was clutching his right eye in pain. She turned her head to the jump-suit orange trousers, the black suit jacket, the flurry of the red tie, and the leering figure of Morris Wellington, holding a small black bundle in his hand. Her jaw dropped opened. "How are you…?"

"You think I'd really go down that quickly?" He asked her. "I knew this would happen at one point or another, so I was just saving my energy 'fore it happened so I could really lay some shit down." Xiaoyu accepted the hand he held out, pulling her up in one swift movement. As she stood, she noticed something amiss. Then she looked to the black bundle in his hands, and her hands raced to her hips, scanning for something, finding nothing.

"YOU STOLE MY PANTIES!"

"I know." Morris said, before suddenly pulling the bundle back with his right thumb, steadying it with his left. "I've boiled it down to an art form." He released, sending the right end slamming into the approaching Devil with a humongous crack like a slave-driver's whip. Devil was forced back once again.

"ARGH! YOU BASTARD!" He screamed, as Morris danced around him, sending crack after crack after crack, turning the greying skin to a bright pink in its wake.

"You should see me with a wet towel." Morris explained to a dumbfounded Xiaoyu. "I'm a killer. Say, are you going to attack him or what? I can't do this forever, you know." As if to illustrate the point, Devil suddenly got a grip on him, ripping through his shirt and digging into his shirt.

"STOP TALKING!" Devil screamed, throwing him off and preparing another punch. However, Xiaoyu intervened, punching Devil again. The action surprised him, and left him open for another strike, as she kneed him in the chest. "Little bitch!" Devil shouted, before suddenly getting rugby tackled by Morris, and forced to the ground. Morris pressed his knees onto Devil's forearms, and began to send a bombardment of fists to his face.

"I told you I fight dirty." Morris said as he wailed his fists down desperately. Devil threw his legs up, pulling his knees past Morris and forcing his feet into his face. Morris was launched off, and landed with a painful crunch, sending a ripple of sound clanging along the metal floor. Devil had only just got to his knee when Xiaoyu came into the fray, throwing every kick, every punch, every strike she could think of and more, desperate to stop this madness. Devil groaned as he was hit in face, groin, stomach, leg, arm and neck. His blackened blood boiled. Being beaten by two mere mortals wasn't enough of a humiliation, no; they had to be a petty drunkard and a squealing schoolgirl. He screamed in anger.

"ENOUGH!" He suddenly rammed his horns into Xiaoyu, goring her stomach nastily, sending the points spearing into her and her blood into his face. He threw her away frantically. She slid along the floor with an almighty screech. Devil expected her to be dead, until she stood up faster than before. A gasp escaped his drooling maw, a momentary pause in shock Morris took full advantage of, punching into Devil like an unexpected wind. Devil got a grip on Morris, locking his forearms. "I'M BETTER THAN YOU! BOTH OF YOU PATHETIC WRETCHES!"

"Who's pathetic?" Xiaoyu asked, slamming her fist into Devil's face. Devil loosened his grip on Morris, and another relentless barrage began, Morris flinging the black panties like a cat-oh-nine-tails with enough force to tear at Devil's bone, Xiaoyu fanatically pummelling away, losing all sense and martial arts training and just letting the desire to hurt Devil control her actions. The Devil began to wane. His sanity snapped.

"NO!" He pushed out his arms, forcing the two away and dropping them to the floor. He looked to Xiaoyu, the closer of the two. "THIS ENDS NOW!" Suddenly, Xiaoyu began to notice that the red diamond in Devil's forehead began to glow rapidly. She became mesmerised, frozen to the floor. Morris watched the sparkle too, gripped by fear.

"_So if the rest of the world's wrong about you, Morris Wellington, why can't you prove it is?"_

Morris snarled with new found determination, rolling over to Xiaoyu. "Move, you fucking idiot!" He barged her out of the way with his shoulder, and then a red light swallowed him.

Devil had only begun to glow a second ago, but the pain for Morris felt like the lifespan of the Earth itself. It ripped him open and pieced him back together with hot nails, though he did not scream, or moan, or make any acknowledgement of the blast at all. He was in too much pain to. Finally, he moved after what felt like an eon. He stood proudly, turning to a stunned Devil.

"That all you got?" He slurred. He began to walk over to him, but stumbled. "I've had four year olds beat me harder than…" He dropped to his hands and knees. "… harder than…" He crawled his way to the Devil's foot, before dropping his stomach on the floor. He lazily raised his clenched fist. "Take that, you big hairy bastard." He pushed the fist into the sneering Devil's shin. For Morris this last defiant action took all his strength. Devil barely noticed it. "Come on then if you think you're hard enough…" Morris's head rested on Devil's left foot and he closed his eyes. "…just gimme a minute or..."

…and thus ended the short, miserable life of Morris Wellington, leaving behind nothing but a month's worth of memories and a twenty year old corpse.


	16. Finale Part 1 Doomed from the start

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**Finale Part 1 – Doomed from the start**

**Disclaimer: If a chicken was a dollar, would it be a commodity?**

**Author's Note – So, it's been a year and a half coming and here it is. Exodus of the Mind and Soul is on its last legs. I'm still not sure why the title is what it is. I originally chose Exodus because it sounded cool, but now it's even more confusing with the added words, but I digress.**

**I usually make this sort of thing when all's said and done, but really, I have to say it while it's in my head.**

**Thank you.**

**Thank you to all who've stayed through my work. I often call my own work terrible, but now I feel that it's at the very least somewhat decent and your constant feedback has made that possible. While I could name you individually and write paragraph after paragraph on each one of you, such as Razer Athane, TeaC0sy, SeungSeiRan and too many others to mention, but we'd be here all day, and it'd feel unfair not to mention the ones who go unnamed, whether you review or not, and support my work just by reading it.**

**Consider this my thanks to you.**

**From Rob.**

**Now this is a long two-part chapter, so get a sandwich, sit down and read on, you gorgeous love machines.**

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* * *

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Morris's eyes stung from the light as he opened his eyes quickly. He pushed himself off Devil's foot, desperate to catch up to whatever developments in the fight may have occurred. He stood to face Devil, who oddly enough remained motionless. Morris pulled back a fist before smacking it flat into Devil's face. His fist actually went through, completely caving through and out the other side. Morris gasped.

"I'VE JUST PUNCHED YOU THROUGH THE FACE!" He shouted, pulling his fist away. He began to cheer, turning away. "That's what happens, UH!" He flexed his muscles with a smile. "I will SKULLFUCK you with my fist! OOOH!" He turned back, noticing that the Devil still had a face, and that he was still unmoving. "Oh, you want more? How about…" He then looked to Devil's feet, and he saw his own body lying at Devil's feet. Morris gulped, then realised what had happened.

Though the world was already silent, it was only now Morris realised it. Nothing moved, all had the same expression of shock and awe, though what had caused this emotion had long stopped moving. But no, Morris thought. His eyes had stung. He was in pain. Pain. The great reminder of your mortality, of your weakness, and yet also the one thing that tells you that you are alive, and Morris knew that he was, in fact, not dead. Though, then where was he? What was he? 

"ARRGGGHHH THIS SUCKS!" He shouted in pain as the rest of the world remained unmoving, oblivious to his fate. He realised the futility of the cry, and dropped silently to his ethereal knees. He looked to his body, itself motionless. However, upon close inspection, Morris saw what looked like glass, though it moved like dust in the air, and had a blackened tint. It was a weak but long rope that led into a wall, though the connection moved gradually to the left. Even Morris, with his fairly slow thought train, immediately knew that whatever this black air led to was the thing that brought him here.

_Well, I had better make a start looking for it._ Morris's knees bent, but he had difficulty standing. He reached out for the black air like a banister, _only to have the scenery abruptly change._

"_ARGH!" He shouted angrily, his eyes burning as the sunlight ended its journey through space and sky to his sight. He shielded them, looking to the ground, hand on head, taking note of the rocky ground, and the very sudden and deep drop in front of him. He gulped. "Bloody great drop…"_

"_SPIKE!"_

_Morris immediately turned to see... Asuka? No, Morris knew that raven hair belonged to a different Kazama, and he had been warned. "No, I'm…" He began, before suddenly receiving a harsh fist to the cheek. He staggered back, waving his hand once in defiance. However, it met its target, and Jun too fell back. Morris followed this up by slipping his legs towards her, left leg to her right, right leg in-between hers. Grabbing her right wrist with his left, he pressed his palm against her chest like lightning, before tugging with his left wrist, guiding her fall to the ground so she was side-on to him. The rocks cracked beneath her, and she scowled in pain._

"_You bastard!" Jun shouted, attempting to move. Morris punched her chest with his open palm, before pushing, keeping her forced on the ground._

"_I'm not Spike!" Morris shouted. He waited for her to calm down, then remembered where his hand was. He couldn't resist a smirk, which promptly earned him a harsh slap. He rubbed his red cheek. "Oww…oh shit!" Too late to correct his mistake of letting go, Morris found himself in a complex arm lock. Somehow, he was standing up, though Jun's foot was ready to snap his neck as she hung from his arm._

"… _you're Morris, right?" Jun said. When Morris nodded, she let go slowly, giving Morris some breathing space. "His brother. I don't remember seeing you before or since Monday." Morris's expression matched her scowl._

"_That's funny." He said. "I saw you just a few hours ago." Jun's eyebrows raised._

"_How?" She asked. "I shouldn't be…oh god…" Her expression changed to horror, before looking into the distance behind her. "He can't be, I told him not to…!"_

"_What?" Morris asked. "What's your problem with Spike? What will he do?" Jun suddenly looked to him, her eyes shining with amazement. Morris looked behind him, then looked back to her, before suddenly being grabbed by the shoulders._

"_YOU KNOW!" Jun shouted. "YOU KNEW! THIS WHOLE TIME!" Her brow furrowed in anger, before she slapped him again. "GODAMMIT, YOU COULD'VE STOPPED HIM!"_

"_Ma'am, I need a few more detail-OWW!" She had slapped Morris again._

"_WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM?" Her hits became more frantic, weaker, more desperate, and Morris noticed that she was crying. She pushed her head against his chest. Though Morris was slightly dazed and incredibly confused, he hugged her. The crying face reminded him of Asuka's own face when he was being attacked by Johnny. The two stood together, Morris awkward and nervous as Jun began to pour tears down him. She then forced herself away, looking to him._

"_Hello." Morris said, trying to break tension._

"_You… you can s-stop him now, though." Jun choked. "H-h-he wouldn't listen to me… but you're his brother. You can stop him." She stood to the side. Morris opened his mouth to ask what he was meant to do, but she was gone, running to a safe distance. Morris looked around. Nobody came._

"_God I need a piss." He moaned, before hearing a familiar voice._

"_Bloody hell, Heihachi's a fan of mountain walks, in'nt he? Oh, hi Morris." Spike said, puffing and panting. Behind him came his student, her black hair flying behind her as she caught up to him in a brisk and purposeful manner. She was considerably less tired, it seemed, but her appearance seemed like a slap in the face to Morris. How did he not see it before?_

"_Hey." He murmured, looking to the student. She looked to him. "It's Jun Kazama, right?" She nodded, confirming his fears. Spike looked confused._

"_I don't ever remembering telling you her name…" He said._

"_**Spike, Kazuya'll be here soon." **__Came Jun's voice. It was much younger and much less frantic than the Jun Morris had just met, and for some reason it sickened him somewhat. He didn't understand the words, though he heard the name 'Kazuya' and remembered that the fact that Kazuya was within a five mile radius was no good thing. Spike nodded._

"_**I know, I know." **__He reminded her. __**"I'll give you your privacy when he comes, I just need to talk to my friend here." **__He looked back to Morris, gesturing that they move away to maintain some confidentiality. He pulled him away from Jun's earshot. "So, what now?"_

"_Spike, what's going on here?" He asked. "And no lies this time." Spike seemed confused._

"_What lies?"_

"_You told me not to trust Jinrei, and it turns out that he was right all along about devils. Hannah told me that you were like a father figure to Jun, just after you told me how much you hated her." Spike rolled his eyes._

"_Not that Jun." He said simply. Morris didn't say anything. "You seem surprised."_

"_Spike, the Jun you hate is also from the future." He told him. Spike laughed._

"_Nah." He said, laughing. "They're sisters."_

"_Both with the same first name!"_

"_I thought it was stupid too, but I didn't pick the name." Spike became smug when he visibly saw Morris get annoyed._

"_YOU FUCKING MORON!" Morris punched Spike in anger. "YOU COULDN'T PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER? WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU, FUCKTARD?" Spike tried to punch back, but Morris blocked easily. "I've had it with this _bullshit!_ I want to know exactly why you and Jun are here despite being told not to come!"_

"_You're not my mother, stop telling me what…"_

"_NOW, SPIKE!"_

_The silence was still, the wind picking up and chilling through their bones as both Spike and Morris stood completely still, glaring from one to the other without acknowledging the surroundings. Spike finally caved in, sighing irritably._

"_If you must know, Jun wants to see her boyfriend Kazuya when he wins the second King of Iron Fist Tournament." He explained. "It's perfectly harmless."_

"_I've met Kazuya, and you have too. The last thing I'd consider calling him is 'harmless'." Spike laughed._

"_Is this the same Kazuya we're talking about?" He said. "Sure, he's weird, but he's a nice enough bloke. Went to the pub with him a few days ago."_

"_Why?" Morris asked. "He despises you like the plague." Spike raised an eyebrow._

"_Really?" He suddenly sounded worried. "Why?" Morris shrugged his shoulders._

"_Fuck knows, but…" Then he began to pierce the mystery. Kazuya hated Wellingtons. Hannah said that Spike and Jun were closer friends than any other. Jun hated Spike and Morris. And then…_

"_Morris, you're zoning out."_

"_Nightmares…" Morris muttered, his mind thinking before his mouth could move. _

Spike… Spike NO! SPIKE! SPIIIIKE!

_**BOOM!**_

_It wasn't his mother he dreamt of. It was Jun._

"_Spike… I think you might shoot Kazuya." He said aloud, without really considering the consequences. He then looked around for a bit. "Aren't there any toilets 'round here? I need to piss urgently…" He turned towards Spike. "So, why are you pointing a gun at my head?" Spike snarled angrily._

"_Go." He said, restraining himself strongly. "First you tell me that I kill my own sister, and now this. You've brought me nothing but pain and misery…"_

"_Don't shoot the messenger, mate."_

"… _GO!" Spike pushed the revolver into Morris's cheek, who staggered back painfully._

"_Spike, I'm on your side, I'm trying to OWWW!" His head juddered as he tripped, smacking onto the ground with the barrel forced into his cheek._

"_Why do I kill her?" Spike seethed. "Why do I kill Iona?" The shout scared Morris slightly, to the point where he gave in._

"_She told you to!"_

"_WHY?"_

"_There were these guys who were…" Morris began to sweat, trying desperately to avoid giving the full, painful answer._

"_WHY WERE THEY AFTER HER?"_

"_She had screwed them over, they were bad people, and…" Morris's heartbeat sounded in his ears, to the point where he couldn't hear anything._

"_I SAID, WHY WERE THEY AFTER HER?"_

"_I was explaining that, but…" Morris tried to buy time to come up with a way to avoid it._

"_COME ON, MORRIS, WHY WERE THEY AFTER HER?"_

"… _she had broken a crime ring and… and they found out that she did it…" Morris stuttered. He was at breaking point._

"_WHY DID THEY KNOW IT WAS HER?"_

"… _I… she… they…" He hadn't told Asuka._

"_WHY?"_

_He hadn't told his mother._

"_WHY?"_

_He refused to admit it to himself._

"_WHY, MORRIS, WHY?"_

"… _they…" Morris almost blurted it out._

"_THEY WHAT?"_

_Morris closed his eyes. He couldn't hear anything anymore._

"_WHY DID THEY GO AFTER HER?"_

"_BECAUSE I TOLD THEM!" Morris screamed. Spike stopped shouting. Morris sat up, pushing the gun barrel away from his cheek. "They tricked me into telling them that she nearly broke up their crime ring."_

_Spike dropped to the floor, silent, his face in awed despair. Morris seemed flippant, wiping the sweat from his brow, but in fact he was shaken, his heart pumping with the volume of a jackhammer. He sighed, tired and feeling at an all time low. He scowled._

"_So, Spike, do you have any other questions or shall we do something about this situation?" He asked bitterly, though Spike didn't seem to hear, just sneering at him. Morris rolled his eyes. "Oh what now? We've got more urgent things to worry about than us two, you're about to shoot your student's boyfriend and here we are discussing something that is long out of control for either of us." Spike kept up the scowl, though, re-readying his gun again. "Why do you even _have_ that with you?"_

"_You… killed her." Spike spat, pulling the hammer back. Morris stood up, ignoring the danger and observing the scene._

"_Didn't you hear the word 'tricked' or did you just get the impression that I didn't mind?" He said distractedly, his eyes focused somewhere else entirely. "By the way, it's 'You _will_ kill her.' It hasn't happened yet." He felt the barrel pushed against his cheek again, the metal cold but about to get a lot hotter. "What will shooting me achieve?" His eyes turned to the shaking Spike, whose arm wobbled this way and that in rage. The two stabbed each other with their glares, before Morris sneered happily. "Are you crying? You pussy, get that gun away from OWWW!" The barrel curled, pulling at Morris's skin._

"_YOU!" Spike bit his lip as he searched for the next word in the insult. Morris sighed._

"_My mum, your sister, died to keep us two, and the rest of our family, alive." He replied, watching as tears rolled down Spike's cheek. "Killing me will just make her death more pointless than it already is."_

"More_ pointless?" Spike seemed shocked. "It didn't work?" Morris didn't answer, just looking into the distance, his face curling into horror. "Answer me!" Spike shouted. Morris gulped, pointing to directly in front of him._

"_He's… _killing_ her…"_

_Jun, the one from fifteen years later, watched as it all evolved in a flash. Spike turned. Kazuya's hands were wrapping their way around the younger Jun's throat. He had just lost the battle, as both Kazuya and the Devil, and in blind rage, though still in Kazuya's form, the Devil lashed out at who he thought was the most dangerous person there, the one who could potentially destroy him. He hoped to kill her before her powers would wipe him out, and then flee to regain his strength. Jun had planned to keep Spike and the younger Jun away, so she herself could destroy the Devil. That didn't work. She hoped Morris would keep Spike so she could finish the job. That didn't work. Now nothing could be done as hot lead pierced Kazuya's torso. Morris was not seen by the young Jun now, and all she saw was Spike turn, aim and fire, all in an unthinking, angered second._

_Fifteen years of work, study and determination all destroyed in a second. _

_The younger Jun watched Spike in revulsion. She screamed in fear as Spike dropped to his knees. The older Jun watched Morris rub his cheek, the gun barrel having left a pink imprint on his skin. All three cried._

_Morris barely seem fazed._

"_Serves the fucking creep right." He sniggered, walking over to Kazuya's unconscious, seemingly dead body. "That's for the uppercut, you pointy haired bastard!" He then became very uneasy. He dropped to his knees, spinning and swinging a fist, dissipating the black haze that had begun to envelope him._

"_Even then, you just didn't care…" Came Jun's voice. Morris snarled, clenching his fists, _and throwing them around him, sending Jun into the arena gratings with an almighty slam.

"Why?" He asked. "What's with sending me back?" Jun coughed slightly. She hadn't aged a moment in six years. Her hair was just as black, her eyes just as brown, her face still a beautiful purity, but Morris saw straight through her. A wolf, its fur a near black shade of purple and its hind legs gone, circled the scene, smiling through its drooling maw. Jun looked to him and sneered.

"An unfortunate accident, a connection between us forcing you into my past, though it matters not." She said. "Morris Wellington, it's time for you to face your punishment." Morris stepped back slightly.

"My… what?" He asked her. "What do you want from me?"

"Morris," Jun began. "- I need to destroy the Devil once and for all. No one else can do it. Not even Asuka has the power necessary to do so."

"I was doing all right." Morris said. Jun didn't answer, as Morris remembered just how well he did. "Point taken, though what do you need _me_ for?"

"It could've been anybody, Morris." Jun said. "I need to go back to the world of the living. That's what this wolf, Unknown, did for me." She gestured to the snarling beast, who bowed, tormenting Morris. "It offered to give me a way back in exchange for a temporary host."

"And you thought this was a good idea?" Morris pointed to the beast. "It's a fucking wolf! Do wolves ever keep promises?" The wolf sneered, and Jun imitated the expression.

"I am a man… forgive my mistake, I'm a beast of my word." Unknown said, the voice distant and alien and yet very clear and familiar, as if speaking in Morris's head. "I promised to help Jun achieve any and all her goals." Jun nodded, before looking to Morris, who was stunned.

"Yeah, and when you pull the other leg, it sings." Morris looked to Jun. "What planet are you on, it's just going to blow the world up or something!" Jun scowled.

"That is none of your concern." Jun said. Morris nodded.

"It kind of is. I live in the world!" He shouted. The wolf suddenly let out a hideous bark of laughter, that froze Morris, the noise racing up and down his spine again.

"Not any more." The wolf said. "The world needs to be in balance. For one to live, another must die."

Morris didn't reply.

"Unknown's right." Jun said, walking over to his body, passing Morris himself. "It's one at my hands or the entire world at Devil's hands." She turned to Morris, who looked to her, shaking in fear. "Would you rather Asuka, Xiaoyu, Hannah, Jinrei and anyone else you've cared about dies?" She didn't get an answer, just Morris's scowl as he clenched his fists. "I thought you might protest, murderer."

"I'm not a murderer." Morris spat. "Why does everyone think I'm a bad guy?"

"They have a point." Jun said. "In fact, seeing as you don't want to die, I'll spare you." As she said this, she formed symbols on the forehead of Morris's body. "I'll just show you what everybody means."

"Oh, go sit on a knife, you stupid _old…" Morris stopped mid-ramble, looking to the new scene. The rain rattled throughout the cold alleyway, smacking hard on the snow that was on the ground. The brown sky and the heavy chill pricked at Morris's survival instincts, and he ran underneath the nearest shelter, an overhanging terrace above him. He sighed. "God I need a piss." He looked to make sure nobody was looking. Irritatingly for him, there was. A young boy, blonde messy hair, thin as a stick, running for all his might. Morris rolled his eyes, before sitting down on the driest patch he could find. It was still wet, and he sat grumpily. He looked to the sky hoping Jun would hear his cry. "YOU COULD'VE AT LEAST CHOSEN A BETTER CLIMATE, YOU STUPID BITCH!"_

"_Oh bollocks!" The boy's voice came as he fell on the snow. He slid forward a little. Morris couldn't help it, and burst into fits of laughter. The boy's eyes held a different emotion; fear. He looked forward, his hand scrambling for a grip. Then his hands fell upon a pipe, the cold lead freezing his fingertips on impact. He looked to it, then smirked. And then Morris saw a flicked of ginger hair, and looked to the way the boy came._

"_Oh god." He murmured, piecing the puzzle together. The boy stood up, the woman came closer. Morris shook hardening his resolve. "No, it's an accident." And just to prove him wrong, the boy threw, not held onto, the pipe, and the woman didn't run into it, but it pierced into her, driving through her stomach in a shower of gore. Morris gasped. He gulped._

"_No, this isn't how it happened." The boy walked over to the staggered woman, who dropped the knife that was in her hand. He grasped the pipe and pulled it away, causing her to stagger back._

"_She tries to kill me again."_

_She didn't. The woman just gurgled and fell to her knees. The boy scowled, twisting his hands around the pipe. Morris shook his head, closed his eyes and clasped his hands around his ears._

"_THIS ISN'T HOW IT HAPPENED!"_

_It took one strike, with a muffled crack, and the snow became red with scarlet. The boy took the pipe with him, but Morris didn't see. He refused to open his eyes for a few minutes. He opened his eyes finally, and dropped his hands. He began to crawl over to the corpse. He looked. It was a hideous sight, and Morris felt like he needed to vomit. He buried his head in the snow, his eyes stinging as they remained open. Tears ran from them as Morris screamed;_

"_OH GOD NO!" The scream rang in the alley._

"_I'M A MURDERER!"_

"_I KILLED HER!"_

"_I KILLED MUM!"_

"_I KILLED THOSE PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN THOSE FLATS!"_

"_I'M…"_

_Morris didn't find the words, just remained curled, the hicks that accompanied his tears ringing with a muffled echo. His world ground to a halt. Now he felt truly broken. He felt black. He felt cold. He wanted to die. He couldn't catch his breath._

"_PLEASE!" He yelled until his throat ached. "NO MORE! YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH! ITS TOO LATE TO TEACH ME ANYTHING! I GET IT… I'M A MURDERER… IS THAT ENOUGH FOR YOU? IS THAT… WHAT YOU WANT ME TO SAY? I'VE SAID IT NOW! I UNDERSTAND NOW! I WISH I… I WISH I DIDN'T! JUST… ENOUGH! TRICK YOURSELF INTO THINKING I'M DEAD! OR KILL ME! OR JUST IGNORE ALL MY PLEAS BESIDES THIS ONE AND LEAVE ME BE! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE FOREVER! NEVER BOTHER ME AGAIN!"_

_His breathing stopped._

_His thoughts stopped._

_He couldn't hear the 'trunkch' of feet crushing snow._

_Though he did feel the slap._

"_Oh, snap out of it, you great big pussy." Morris rubbed his cheeks._

"_The fuck's wrong with you bitch?" He didn't look, opting to punch first, swinging his fist in the direction of the voice. However, he couldn't land it. He didn't know quite what had happened, but he was on the floor, his legs crossed and a hand on his chest. He winced in pain._

"_Come on, Morris. You couldn't land a punch on me if I wasn't even looking." Morris recognised the voice, opened his eyes, and choked on his own breath._

"_Mum…" He muttered. Iona Wellington smirked._

"_Come on, stop gawking like an idiot." She said. "You know how brilliant I look, nearing forty or not. You inherited all your appearance from me and yet you somehow manage to look pug ugly; I'll blame that on your father." She wasn't lying about the inheritance. The spiky blonde hair, the thin limbs, the blue eyes; even the bizarre fingers, all belonged to Iona. She was annoyed that Hannah picked up very little from her, though she was always more of a Reinhart than a Wellington. She wore an amalgam of second hand clothes, much in the style of Morris. A trench coat without buttons, flowing away to reveal a waistcoat-tie-shirt combo, all different shades of blue. Her jeans had a lot of rips and patches stitched onto them. She looked to Morris with warmth eyes, Morris shaking slightly._

"_How are you here?" He asked. Iona shrugged._

"_Buggered if I know. Magic?" She said. Her smile was as warm as her eyes, though the family smirk slid easily into place. "So, I think we've got to talk, don't we? Morris looked back in shock, before bowing his head._

"_Mum… I'm sorry." He muttered. Iona sighed. "I killed you. I killed all those people in my block of flats. I killed the person who attacked me. I nearly got Asuka…"_

"_Stop." She interrupted. "That isn't my son talking, that's whatever sent you here wants you to say." She let Morris go, pulling him to his feet._

"_But it's all my fault." He said. "What happening right now. I've done all these horrible things and now it's all caught up to me."_

"_What, and you're just going to roll over?" Iona laughed. "Bad news, Morris, but that's not the Wellington way." She plunged her hand into her jacket pocket, pulling a bottle of cider out of the pocket. She tugged at the cork with her teeth, and, having removed said cork, took a swig of the orange alcohol. "We punch everyone we don't sleep with and take their ego down a notch while we're at it." She looked back to Morris. "You want to live, right? I bet a squeeze of yours is on the other side."_

"_But… I don't deserve her. I don't deserve to even live." He looked to his feet guiltily. Iona rolled her eyes, and slapped him again. "OWW!"_

"_So what?" She said. "Earn the right to live. Earn her back. Killing someone's bad, though I can name you something that's worse."_

"… _what?" Morris suggested. Iona frowned._

"_Avoiding your responsibilities that it leaves." She said. "It's not doing anything about it. So yes, you _arguably_ killed me, and even that's just Spike being his usual pussy reactionary self..."_

"_You just love that word, don't you?" Morris said. "Pussy. Anyone would think you're a lesbian."_

"_Morris, interrupt me again and I'll fucking glass you." Iona said through smiling lips. "So, as I said, if you 'killed' me, then the least you could do would be to make that worthwhile. You might feel like you're getting what you deserved, but really you're still running." She took another swig of cider. "I didn't raise a coward, Morris."_

"_I'm not a coward!" Morris shouted. Iona scowled._

"_You could've fooled me. You do something bad, it isn't somebody else's responsibility to punish you for it. It's your responsibility to put it right. You get it?"_

"…"

"_Morris, do you get it?" Iona asked again, but then she was slammed. Her face suddenly turned to shock as Morris hugged her. She was a little taller than him, and she smiled without a smirk now, returning the hug. The two stood still for a few seconds._

"_Thanks, mum." Morris finally said. "I needed that."_

"_It's what I'm here for." She said. "Though I still need you to tell me something." She pulled away, Morris standing back to. "Who are you?" Morris raised an eyebrow. "You fucking deaf? Answer the question."_

"_I'm Morris Wellington?" He said. He got a slap. "What's with the slapping?"_

"_That is also what I'm here for!" Iona jeered. "Slapping, swearing and drinking. Best!" She slapped him again. "Damn!" Another slap. "Existence!" And another. "EVER!" Morris's cheek was now red, so she stopped, laughing as she watched him rub his cheek. "So, answer the question!"_

"_I'm… British?"_

"_Pathetic guess."_

"_Your son?"_

"_Try again, Morris, you know the answer!"_

"_I'm a martial artist! I'm God's gift to women! I'm… I'm… I'm drunk!"_

"_Come on, Morris, just say it!"_

"_I'm…"_

* * *

Devil sneered at Morris's dead body, lifting it off his foot and casually casting it aside, like a child with a ragdoll. The world stood still as the audience became silent for a moment, before beginning the panicked screaming again. Xiaoyu remained on her back, breathing heavily. Morris just… saved her. But he hated her. She hated him. She was only minutes ago battering him with her fists. Weeks ago, he had humiliated her with cold dispassion, and kept doing so throughout the tournament. He was everything she hated in the world.

'What changed?' She thought, rolling onto her stomach to prepare to get off the floor, but Devil was already within kicking distance to her. He put his foot on her head, pushing as hard as he could.

"Humans. I will never understand you cretins." He drawled. "Ready to die for hopeless causes and pointless endeavours. Still, I do not need to understand you to rule you." He then looked away, his nose twitching. "Why do I smell burning?" He turned, and saw Morris's body. Or rather, what _was_ Morris's body. Now was a glowing ball of flame suspended in midair, about the size of a man in the foetal position, one half white and one black. It crackled and fizzled with great ferocity, and though the size did not change, the heat emitted from it was burning Devil's skin more and more. He looked around the arena. "What is this?" He murmured to himself, looking for a possible culprit. Asuka? The Kazama girl, shaking with a combination of despair and rage? No, she looked as shocked at the flame as he was. Kazuya? Was there untapped power within him? No, Devil knew exactly what he could do, even with his own Devil part. Heihachi? Some unknown trick devised just to catch him? No, it was not possible.

"Jin, you know who I am." Came a calm, sweet and familiar voice. Too familiar. For a fleeting second, the Devil Gene lost control, and Jin screamed for his mother, before reverting back instantly.

"You're… urgh!" Suddenly, Devil felt sick, the flames were now roasting him alive. "You're supposed to be dead!" The flame became grey for one second, and then smoke completely enveloped the arena, the brown mist obscuring everything. The fumes leapt into people's eyes, nose and mouth, hoping to obscure the scene with extremely high success. Everybody was coughing besides Asuka, who had worked out who was causing this.

"Jun." She muttered, before looking for a way into the caged fighting ground. She threw herself past the distracted guards, away from Jinrei, and curled her fingers around the gratings. The fog began to clear, and Jun stepped forward.

She seemed to have visibly become younger, her hair about the same length as Asuka's (if a little straighter) and her skin quite soft, or at least the parts that were not covered by the purple slop that worked its way up her feet to her bust incredibly rapidly, though her back remained uncovered, as if something was connected to her from behind. As more of the cloaking fog passed, a looming figure that was bright and radiant became visible. A great wolf, black as night and larger than any man, imitated her movement, her expression, even her reactionary twitches with more than expert precision. Her eyes glowed a pure and fierce gold, as if made of said metal. Her expression carried a great deal of weight, less anger and more of a determined resolve.

"I will destroy the Devil Gene!" She shouted, a thousand voices ringing through her throat as she spoke. "Forever!" Devil scowled.

"What is this trickery?" He shouted. "You can not be real!"

"I am." Jun calmly stated. "I have even got a friend to help me defeat you." She looked to Jinrei, and bowed politely. "Master, it is good to see you."

"You dare ignore me!" Devil shouted, unleashing a laser blast. However, Jun deflected with not even ease, but a complete lack of effort, a simple wave of the hand. She remained looking to Jinrei, as if assuring him all was well, that this danger would pass, that the deal with this Unknown beast was necessary, and that…

… that…

Jun's gaze dropped to her feet. A light liquid was circling around her, catching her feet and dribbling away. She bent down to her knees, prodding at the stream, before bringing her fingers to her nose. Whiskey. She turned to the last of the fog. She suddenly got a tremendous fear, as if she wasn't the only one to arrive here. _Impossible. _She thought as the silhouette took form, a cape flowing some distance behind him, his hand outstretched, and the flask pouring the contents onto the floor. Blonde hair blew in the dead wind as blue eyes glared at her. She snarled. "You…"

"Yeah." Came the British accent that brought a full and dangerous anger into the arena as Morris stepped through the fog, his eyes burning as he steadied himself. "Me." His glare was not one of ice but of ferocious anger. His breathing was slow and controlled. He slid his right foot behind him, bending his knees. Jun rolled her eyes, the wolf looking straight into Morris's eyes with a grin on its bestial face.

"Really?" She spat. "You came here to defeat Jin, and now I'm about to do so, you're going to fight me?" Morris didn't answer besides raising his fists. Jun snarled, before the wolf leant towards her.

"_It would be best to defend yourself against him. Destroying the Devil Gene will be a delicate process, any interruptions could…"_

"Shut your fucking mouth!" Morris shouted suddenly, slamming his left foot forward and dragging the rest of his body closer. Jun finally turned to Morris, glaring at him.

"I see that nothing will change your mind." She said, taking up her own fighting stance. "Do you think that this will change anything? Do you seriously think that what you're doing is right?" Morris took another step forward, his knuckles cracked as he shifted them slightly. "You don't deserve any of what little you have. You're a liar. A cheat. A murderer."

"Change the record." Morris snarled, taking another step. Every step closer, his eyes burning with danger in the pupils. Jun kept up an icy glare, keeping back the scorch of Morris's angry growls with a cold seething.

"You know I'm right, Morris." She reminded him. "You've caused the deaths of many people, by your hands and the hands of others." Morris kept coming closer though, slowly and carefully. Jun rolled her eyes. "Why are you here if you know all this? Who are you to interfere? Who do you think you are?" Morris smirked suddenly, his anger mellowing somewhat. He noticed very clearly that more she spoke, the thicker the blackness around her got. The thicker the smoggy goo around her body became. He knew that she wasn't in full control, and all he had to do was make her see it.

"I know the difference between running and fighting." He said, an arms-length away from Jun. Her knuckles snapped as she clenched her fists in rage. "If I let my problems wallow over me, if I let them control me, I'd still be running." She raised her own fists, the gunk swelling and pulsating. "Running from everything I've been looking for. Running from what I need." Jun's teeth ground together. "I'll give you once chance to stop running, then I'll crush you." Jun swung her arm, hoping to smack Morris away. The punch rattled his forearm, but the block worked. He then pulled the arm into a trap, before shoulder-barging Jun away, sending her to the floor. She rolled onto the feet immediately.

"You fool!" Jun shouted. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I'm a fighter." Morris smiled slightly, his fingers twisting in the air together in anticipation. "It's what I do, bitch."

Jun lunged desperately, hoping to send him scrambling back, but the attack was unfocused, and Morris easily swung away, punching her as he did. Unknown vanished in a puff of smoke. Jun became angrier and angrier as Morris kept moving backwards, peppering her with light jabs he moved back. He waited until he felt his heel touch a metal fence, now in a corner of the cage. Pushing himself away with said heel, his shoulder pounded into Jun's cheek, forcing her away as he rolled to a crouch, now becoming far more aggressive and sending much slower, much more dangerous punches and kicks, before sweeping at her leg, tripping her, and slamming his palm against her stomach. She rattled on the floor.

"Idiot…" She moaned, looking straight to him. "I've got a connection to you… I KNOW YOUR EVERY MOVE!" With this, she pushed herself along the floor, past Morris, lurching forward onto her feet. She pushed off the ground as Morris kicked for her, jumping above him and landing to his front. She wrapped her two hands together and smacked him on the chin as she rose, throwing him away. He squirmed away.

"That all you got?" He asked, before jumping to his feet. "Well, maybe I've learnt something from you!" He suddenly spun on his left foot, kicking her shin with his right, and he kept spinning, elbowing her in the face, then sending a shattering punch to her belly, followed by a last kick to push her away. He smirked as she landed with a slam. "Who's a god? I'm a god!" Then he heard footsteps behind him. "I forgot about you…" He turned away just in time, dodging Devil's hammer blow. However, a misplaced leg tripped Morris up, and Devil clasped his throat.

"A nice reunion for everybody, but I've think we've all forgotten that I CAN TAKE EVERY SINGLE LAST CRETIN ON THIS PATHETIC WORLD DOWN!" He flung Morris into the railings, slowly stamping towards him. "Starting with you, then Jun, then Xiaoyu, then who knows? It doesn't matter what order, YOU'LL ALL DIE AT MY ARGH!" He felt Morris's foot contact his stomach, who twisted it quickly, throwing Devil away. Morris pulled himself up.

"You talk too much." He said. "Coming from me, that means something's wrong with you." He suddenly fell to the ground, though it was deliberate, avoiding Devil's counter. He rolled away, throwing his leg out and sending Devil stumbling onto the floor. "You can fly, tripping shouldn't be a problem for you." He got to his feet, looking to Jun, hoping that she wasn't preparing to spring onto him. He couldn't see her. He whirled around, but it was too late. A hand forced itself into the back of Morris's head, clenching at a clump of hair, another looping around his crown and grabbing his fringe.

"Wisecrack your way out of this!" Jun shouted, dragging his head back but pushing his neck out. She dropped to the floor, forcing Morris's head to collide with the step plate. He felt a wave of nausea from the strike, before desperately scrambling to get away. She kept his head down, and every dint in the floor rattled across his forehead, grazing and scratching as he weaved. He placed his feet on the flat of their heels and dragged back in the hope of throwing Jun away. He became desperate when it didn't work. It was as if Jun had superhuman strength. You couldn't hold a person down by their neck alone, surely?

"GET OFF!" He rolled onto his back, causing Jun to falter with her hands, hoping not to get them trapped. Morris kicked out, batting her away, but she came back in full force, slamming his stomach with an almighty fist. Morris spluttered, his ribs rattling, but he didn't let it stop him, head-butting her once and twice in rapid succession. His bloody forehead was moaning under the pressure, but now he had bought some breathing space…

"Hi." Came Devil's voice. Morris looked up, a small dribble of blood running down from his forehead to his cheek and chin.

"Oh come on!" He moaned, before being plucked up with one claw. Devil readied his other claw, looking to Morris, wondering where to cut, like a butcher with a dead pig. Then he winced, and dropped Morris. Morris fell to the floor, watching as Devil fell to his hands and knees, retching and gasping, smoke rising from his back. Morris looked to behind Devil, and saw Asuka in her battle stance, with the same aura that had circled her at the hospital. "You took your sweet time to get involved, didn't you?"

"Blame those armed guards pushing everyone back." She told him, then observed the scene quickly. Devil was still in pain, but he was getting to his feet. Jun was readying herself for another assault. Asuka frowned. "Which one do you want?"

"You're the one after Jin." Morris answered. "It's only fair that you go for him." He extended his arm, which Asuka used to pull him up. He then very suddenly turned, backhanding Jun away, her cheek shuddering. She stumbled back, with Morris keeping up a quick flurry of jabs that stopped Jun countering. Morris guessed that with Jun's superior strength and speed, the best tactic would be to put her on the hop and keep her from attacking.

THUMP

Morris was sent onto the floor in pain. _So much for that._ He scrambled along as Jun leapt forward to attack him while he was down. He concentrated on blocking, Jun's many punches being forced away while Morris backed off, trying to get up simultaneously. He balanced on his feet, and then he rose to a crouch, then to standing position, before landing one strong kick. Jun was forced away, which Morris advanced on with determined aggression. He grabbed her head and slammed his knee into her. However, she still wasn't falling over. Anybody else would be too tired to stand after that, and Jun barely had a scratch on her face. She once again punched him, and Morris fell back in shock.

"SWAP!" He shouted, and rolled away as Asuka leapt over him, kicked Jun in midair landed on Jun's foot and punched her in the chest, forcing Jun to fall over. She didn't let Jun get back into shape, going down to a grappling position. She clamped Jun in a headlock, and whirled her body to Jun's left. Jun pushed with her legs, moving towards Asuka, disconnecting the pin.

"Damn!" Asuka moaned, spinning very quickly. Jun charged at her, but Asuka instead fell onto her back, dragging Jun on top of her. Wrapping her legs around Jun's waist, Asuka then proceeded to punch at Jun's face, once twice thrice over and over. Jun tried to get out of the pin, but Asuka kept a firm grip. Then Jun slammed her two hands onto Asuka's chest, winding her and releasing the lock. She stood up quickly, before kicking Asuka away.

"Hey, what are you…" Came Morris's voice as Asuka collided with both him and Devil, tripping them both up. In a great bundle, they slid together clumsily.

"You want to swap, I'm guessing." Morris asked, Devil's foot in his face.. Asuka nodded, before throwing her legs up and slamming them back down on Devil's back. Devil barked in fury, accidentally letting Morris go, before screaming again as Asuka kept up an assault on his back, slamming a double fist onto the lower spine. She got up quickly, backing away.

"ARGH!" Devil shouted, getting up as well as Asuka caught her breath. "You'll pay for that, Kazama wretch!" He leapt dangerously, but Asuka already knew what to do. She willed desperately for a flame to arise to her hand, and just as Devil shoulder barged her, she summoned a fireball around her fist, which she forced into Devil's face. She grabbed hold of his cheek, burning away as Devil screamed in agony. However, in advancing, she suddenly slipped, and Devil pulled her up in a vice grip around his neck.

"Urgh." Asuka groaned as the claws wrapped around her neck, crushing her windpipe. "Swap…" She could barely get the sound out, but almost immediately she was given relief as Morris elbowed Devil in the side of the head. The two spun away, Devil in a defensive stance as Morris charged forward.

"I will fucking PLUCK you!" He shouted, suddenly rolled to the side of Devil's clawed strike. He then grabbed hold of Devil's wing, a fistful of feathers, and pulled desperately, the black feathers coming away with difficulty. Just as Morris planned.

"ARRRRRRGH!" Devil yelped, before feeling the same tremendous pain again and again as Morris weaved this way and that. He then grabbed onto Devil's two horns, and pushed them into the metal floor. They wedged themselves in, and Devil screamed in hate. "YOU BASTARD! YOU'VE DEFILED MY FORM!" He was then treated to a clump of feathers being thrown into his face, Morris laughing.

"Aww, what's the matter?" He cooed, pushing Devil's head harder into the ground. "Boo hoo, can't keep your temper?"

"I WILL KILL YOU FOR THIS!"

"No, you won't." Morris laughed, looking over to Asuka. "How're things at your end?" He saw Jun and Asuka scrambling on the floor, clawing at each other desperately. "Oooh, catfight. This is hot."

"MORRIS, STOP GETTING TURNED ON AND COME HELP ME!" Asuka screamed, pushing Jun away from her with her foot. Morris shook himself.

"Right, yeah, that…" He said, running over to Jun and tackling her easily. The two rolled in one great ball for a moment. When the movement stopped, Morris got straight to the mount and started to land punch after punch onto her. However, he slowly stopped when he heard laughter. He watched in horror as Jun's face curled into greater amounts of mirth as her roaring laughter chilled him to the bone.

"_Well," _Came a voice in Morris's head, though Jun's lips were moving. _"- this has been a most amusing duel of wills, but now it grows somewhat tiresome."_ Then Jun pushed Morris with such force he actually flew through the air, before slamming back down to the floor. Jun stood up rather casually, and Unknown appeared once again, circling her slightly. The two bowed in respect. _"Good day to you, Wellington."_ With that, Jun turned around towards Devil…


	17. Finale Part 2 Doomed until the End

**Finale Part 2 – Doomed until the end**

**Disclaimer: How much does it hurt when you masturbate with chilli powder on your fingers?**

**Author's Note – Once again a big chapter. In fact the word count is OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAND! Get a picnic.**

**Look up from your mud pits, peasants, and gaze in wonder as I come down in my shimmering chariot from the heavens to give my opinions on this chapter!**

**It's hard to say where I stand on Morris Wellington as a character. I'll always have a soft spot for him, seeing as he was one of the first characters I created and the first to ever be published, internet or otherwise, but at the same time I'm not quite sure why. If I met him on the street, I'd probably think he was a prick, but I'd also enjoy my time with him, but not more so than writing for him.**

**Even when writer's block has been irritating me, this story, and Morris, has been a blast to write, and yet I don't ever want to look back on it, or write a sequel, and even cameoing Morris in my other stories would make me feel slightly dumb… other people cameoing him; that's different. I'm a cheap marketing whore and need constant attention and ego-stroking. Yes, I am shameless. Though it's not as bad as my giggly hysteria that crawls over me whenever I'm writing Johnny Showdown.**

**He wasn't even in the original Exodus, but I really like writing for Johnny to a frankly upsetting degree. I'm not much like Morris, in fact his appearance is purposely a direct constant to mine besides the Y chromosome (he's short, blonde and thin while I'm a tall brown-haired fat bastard), and as much as I enjoy writing for him, Johnny feels worryingly more familiar. He looks a bit more like me, for a start, and we have quite similar dress codes (Hawaiian shirts, impractical boots, jeans and recently I bought a totally awesome trench coat) and he feels like a vent. I'm quite meek and mild, so to have such a bastard to write for is hugely exhilarating.**

**Both of them are very important to me, and this will be the last thing to have either of them in, hence the somewhat downbeat feel of this finale. Less jokes and more of a big screaming "THIS IS THE END" feel to it. But whatever, it's my story. If you don't like it, eat it.**

**The epilogue will be out when it's out, so until then, have a lovely Christmas and peace out, homies.**

* * *

"_Well," _Came a voice in Morris's head, though Jun's lips were moving. _"- this has been a most amusing duel of wills, but now it grows somewhat tiresome."_ Then Jun pushed Morris with such force he actually flew through the air, before slamming back down to the floor. Jun stood up rather casually, and Unknown appeared once again, circling her slightly. The two bowed in respect. _"Good day to you, Wellington."_ With that, Jun turned around towards Devil…

"Wait, what?" Asuka shouted. "You're stopping?"

"_Did I not make that clear enough?"_ Unknown replied. _"Jun holds these matters in high regard, but really, the deal we have made is my only concern."_

"What was this deal?" Morris asked suspiciously. Unknown laughed.

"_You know exactly what the deal was." _She explained, seeming a lot more genteel than Jun did. _"I help Jun destroy the Devil Gene forever, and she becomes my temporary host."_

"Bullshit." Morris replied. "What do you get out of that? No, I know there's something else, so spill." Unknown smiled slightly.

"_You are a perceptive man, Wellington. Far more than Jun gives credit for." _Unknown turned back to Morris. _"As far as Jun is concerned, once I leave her body after the Devil Gene is destroyed, it's all over. The deal is everything to her. Alas, if only she saw the bigger picture." _Unknown's tone suddenly became a lot more menacing, less joyful and more angry. _"Do you know how long it's taken for me to get her to this point?"_

"Pardon?" Morris asked.

"_This point of madness!" _Unknown snarled. _"She wouldn't dare consider anyone her enemy… that's part of why she fell in love with Kazuya, but you! She hates you with every bit of her soul. I _made_ her hate you! I made her into this! And it has taken me oh so long! Twenty one years! Since the moment Spike shot Kazuya, I was born, born out of her burning hatred, out of her rage and despair." _The more it spoke, the more animated it became. _"Of course, I was weak back then." _Eyes widening. _"Almost pathetic." _Volume rising._ "So I bode my time." _Talking faster. _"Do you seriously think she would've ever considered this idea at all if I didn't influence her somewhat beforehand?"_

"You're all that pent-up hatred she felt." Asuka said. "Everything she ever despised, she poured into you." Unknown smiled a toothy grin through Jun's lips, through the wolf's drooling maw.

"_The greatest thing was that she didn't even realise it was happening. Everything that went wrong, every failure, every punishment, she placed into me, feeding me without seeing me. When you stopped her from saving Kazuya, Morris. When Johnny, a very good friend of hers, abruptly left her in her time of need. When Jin allowed the Devil within him to control him. Everything and anything! Something she would forgive from anyone and attempt to show them the way, I made them boil her blood! It wasn't easy, mind you. Distorting the truth, manipulating voices and sights, sometimes not showing her anything and outright lying… it was not easy to maintain such an alien rage within her, but now all that work has paid off."_

"And what now?" Morris asked. "Now are you going to try and take the Devil Gene for your own gains?" Unknown laughed.

"_I'm not a being without perspective. No, the Devil Gene is a rather minute detail factoring everything. I shall indeed destroy it as our deal dictates. It simply set everything into motion; it is of no use to me._ Emotion_. That's the key to my stride to power. It was easy to cloud Jun's vision when she could not reconcile with her failures. Now, imagine what I could do with a world leader? Or several? I could cause a war that would make the Mishima Zaibatsu's conquest seem petty. I could annihilate all of human existence besides those I favour. Or they will simply collapse." _With this, Unknown gave a shrug. _"It matters not. I am in no danger. Chaos is my real goal."_

"And you think that we're going to let you?" Morris asked. Unknown rolled its eyes, before suddenly slamming its open palm into Morris, curling its fingers around him.

"Let him go!" Asuka shouted, summoning a fireball and slamming it into Unknown's face. Unknown shrugged the attack away, before grabbing a hold on Asuka.

"_It's not a matter of whether or not you let me." _Unknown said. _"You simply don't have a choice."_ The harsh grip caused Morris to groan in agony. Asuka lost all her breath, but then thought of something. She closed her eyes and desperately hoped for a distraction. On command, a flock of birds began to caw, and Asuka felt their presence get closer, and closer, bending to her will, before suddenly flying into the arena, pitter-pattering against Unknown's head. The great wolf snarled slightly, but kept its grip.

"Nice plan, Asuka, send birds to hit the wolf the size of a house!" Morris shouted. "You couldn't get a lion, or a bear, or something more…" He didn't finish his sentence, for he was abruptly dropped. Unknown gripped its head, as did Jun, among whom the birds were crowding. Asuka smiled quite smugly to Morris, who huffed indignantly. "A lion would still be useful."

"Morris, behind you!" Asuka shouted. Morris just dodged Devil's wild swing, and he was blasted back by a fireball sent by Asuka.

"No fair!" Morris shouted. "We can't take on two of you, this is such bullsh-ARGH!" Unknown's palm pounded onto Morris, throwing him into the railings. He didn't even have time to recover, before another one of Unknown's fists flew in.

"You bitch!" Asuka yelled, running over to Jun. Jun was busy controlling, or being controlled by, Unknown, and couldn't react to Asuka's mighty strike, an elbow to the chin, that sent her high into the air. The raven haired woman landed with a shudder, shaking from the impact as Asuka kept kicking to keep her down. Unknown snarled in anger.

"_You impudent little brat, I'll crush you._" It said, throwing a paw back at her. Asuka dodged the attack, but only just, and was forced away by constant attacks.

"Morris, I need a hand here!"

"I'm a little tied up myself, Asuka!" He shouted. "In case you didn't remember, THE DEVIL'S BEATING ME SENSELESS!" He wasn't wrong. He was currently being hurled around by Devil, who had him by the collar, before being thrown into the fencing. Morris looked up to the horned figure as he got closer. "Now, me punching you, it's all in the past, right? You wouldn't hit little old me when you've got that gigantic wolf that will kill you if we don't, so why we call a truce and carry this on later?"

"It is in the past…" Devil growled, grabbing Morris by the neck. . "- just like how you _will_ be!" The claws wrapped around and lifted Morris with ease as Devil readied his other claws to stab him.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" Came a voice. Devil chuckled slightly.

"Ling Xiaoyu? Oh here comes the cavalry!" He turned, still holding onto Morris, but Xiaoyu's strike was bold and angry, going straight for his side. His rib cage was rattled by the collision, and he wasn't ready for the two kicks that were planted straight into his face.

"I told you not to laugh at me!" She shouted. Morris coughed as he caught his breath.

"Thanks." He said. Xiaoyu looked to him for a moment.

"I thought being an adult was being tough and stoic…" Xiaoyu said. "I blew our feud out of proportion…"

"I'll fucking say."

"- and now I know." She said. "I've got to stand up for what's right, whoever's in my way or whoever's in danger. You taught me that…"

"Look, Xiaoyu, can we do this later, there's a fight going on…"

"- so no. Thank _you_." She said. Then Devil tackled her, pushing her to the floor and punching at her desperately.

"See, this is why we don't give lectures while we're fighting two supernatural beings, Xiaoyu." Morris explained, grabbing Devil by the stomach and pulling him up. Xiaoyu sent a foot into the hanging Devil and caused him to scream in anger. Morris threw him onto the floor, and Xiaoyu kicked up to Devil's face.

"You deal with Jun, I've got this." She told him. Morris nodded, and looked to Asuka and Unknown. The situation hadn't changed all that much. Asuka was still dodging slams, trying to get towards Jun. Morris decided to strike at Jun while Unknown was distracted. He launched himself to her, slamming his shoulder into her stomach with tremendous force. Jun, and by extension Unknown, was thrown back, and Asuka followed it up with a jumping kick, leaping over Morris's head. The two circled and swapped between each other, striking at Jun or Unknown, whoever was closest, while Xiaoyu kept Devil as far away from them as possible, hoping to give them enough time to defeat Unknown.

"_You can't beat me. Nothing you can do will stop me. So why are you fighting?_" Unknown asked, more annoyed than actually angry, as if this was only a minor inconvenience. Asuka jumped onto Morris's shoulders, and then onto Unknown's head, clamping up.

"Wanna bet?" She asked, before slamming her palms into Unknown's head, burning the flesh with white fire. Unknown suddenly started to scream in agony, wailing and flailing around unsteadily.

"Nice one, Asuka! You fucking own…" Morris began, but then he saw one of Unknown's undirected arms heading straight for him. He sighed. "This is going to hurt…" He braced himself for the shock, and the force hit him like a train. He flew away, breaking through the fencing and rolling into a small dugout by the side of the arena. Morris slammed heavily into the wall, pain rushing through his shoulder. He rolled onto his back, pressed his palms onto the floor and got ready to push himself up and rejoin.

"Don't move." Came a heavy, hurt voice. Morris recognised it but couldn't identify the owner. Then suddenly a rod of metal and wood slammed into his chest, causing him to choke. He felt as if the air had been forced out of his body. He tried to move.

"Look;" Morris began to speak. "- I've got more important things to do, so could you please…" Suddenly, the pole began to twist harshly, digging into Morris's chest with such a force and hatred, that Morris became sure that it was a talon of some beast. He felt it begin to tear through his skin, and push on through, not enough to cause death, but blinding Morris with agony.

"I'm sure you do." Said the voice. Morris turned his head to the right. He saw a horrifying image. A figure stood over him, supported by the makeshift crutch that was forcing its way into Morris's chest. It held a blank expression, almost simultaneously interested and bored of Morris's very existence. Parts of the face were a pale skin, but many other sections of the face had been burnt away, reddened and bloody. Much of the figure's hair was gone, with only a few remnants of the short black cut left. The tearful eyes held a distinct hatred, not tearful out of sorrow, but out of pain as a gentle breeze pricked his skin like hot knives. However, it was the hand that held the crutch that Morris recognised most. A bone, essentially, but with a pink and blue band on the wrist. Morris gulped. "Let's talk."

"How did you survive?" He asked. Johnny did not smile, but the malice rose.

"It's painful, but you get used to it in time." He said. "It's the irony that hurts. Your luck. The fact that I set you alight and you have no scars, no burns, nothing. As if it never happened. And I? I was the unlucky one, wasn't I, you little runt?"

"Shut up!" Morris shouted. "You bastard, I will KILL you!" His breathing tensed. He could hear nothing in the outside world. All there was in his reality now was the dugout, with his family's greatest enemy, his pink and blue banded demon, holding him down. "You killed Spike! You nearly killed me! You tried to have Asuka raped! You're a monster, and I'll KILL you! I'LL KILL YOU LIKE THE DOG YOU ARE!" Johnny didn't move, though his lips twitched slightly, becoming an expression blank irritancy. He almost seemed like a completely different person, no longer animated, simply going through the motions.

"Just face the music." He said, a tear of pain reluctantly welling in one of his eyes. "Morris Wellington; today you are going to die." He looked to the arena, unnoticed to the world. "Your little bitch Asuka will die, too." He said these words with a frankness that seemed to hurt Morris more than the crutch digging into him, and a barely contained roaring hatred rattled the cage that was Johnny's unchanging cruel monotone.

"Why?" He murmured. "She's not a part of this." Johnny's blank face mutated into a scowl. He, without warning, released the crutch, and then slammed it back down. Morris wailed in agony, hearing a bone crack and feeling the blood escape his body as the weapon hit him again and again, punching without stopping or caring. He coughed up some blood, and finally the salvo stopped. Johnny smiled as he watched Morris's shirt darken.

"On the floor being smashed up by a cripple." He stated, now becoming more emotional, smiling more, his voice allowing the sadistic glee and the cavernous depravity and the nightmarish revulsion to flow in like raindrops off stone into a river, as if a dead man had begun to regain a hideous life. "It's good to be reminded of your place in the world." Morris began to shed tears in pain, and Johnny laughed brutishly. It was forced, and resulted in a great hacking cough. He waited to calm down, which took a good ten seconds. "I'm afraid, Morris, that she made herself a part of this. She involved herself, and now she has to die." He sneered at Morris, as if looking at dirt on his sole. "A little personal vendetta. No harm in getting emotionally involved to a job so long as you're sure you'll succeed." Morris spat up some more blood.

"That's all everyone in the world is to you!" He gurgled. "A fatted calf! A job waiting to happen. Well, you better make sure this job goes well, because I'm going to tear you apaAARRGGHH!" The crutch turned more, slowly and deliberately. He felt as if he was going to faint. He glimpsed at Johnny, who was beginning to look much more like the man who had very nearly killed him three nights ago. He was clearly enjoying this more than he should.

"Everybody I kill does this. They try to talk their way out." Johnny said, unchanged. Morris gulped. Johnny's slow, cruel voice chilled him. "They threaten me, or they insult me, or they try to bribe me. But always talking. Blah blah blah, just biding time, hoping that something would come to save them." Johnny kept the crutch firmly on Morris's chest as he leant on it. Morris groaned under the pain. "It's the beggars I love the most. It's their eyes. The…"

"Are you just going to talk to me or do you have something to do?" Morris regretted the snide comment immediately, feeling the crutch twist in harder. Johnny smiled.

"It's hard to say when you've never seen it before. It's the fact that… they know that they'll die, but they're too scared to be at peace; it's actually quite beautiful. The way they sparkle with tears, the widening irises, the fluttering of eyelashes as if they are trying to bat out all that is bad in the world; it's quite glorious."

"Fuck off!" Morris actually knew that look. It was on the face of the woman he had killed, and he didn't need reminding. Johnny chuckled.

"Insult me all you want, I know you're a beggar." He said, leaning in to Morris's disgusted face. "Not for your own life, though… interesting."

"What do you mean by…?" Morris paused. He looked to Johnny's face, the toothy grin curling as the seconds past. Tears welled in both their eyes, though Johnny's were simply pained reactions to the wind. Morris's heart filled with more dread than ever before, though he had already been told what was to be. "No, leave her out of this." Johnny's smirk was answer enough, but Johnny wanted to be crueller.

"Say it. Beg. Beg for her."

"Please… don't kill Asuka." Johnny clapped his hands and rubbed them together.

"I knew it!" The smile was horrifically pleasant. "You're obsessed with that little bitch of yours!" Morris nearly got up as Johnny was distracted, but Johnny stopped him with his foot, causing Morris to wince in pain. "You're even ready to waste your final seconds pleading for me not to do something that I'm _very _clearly going to do!"

"SHUT UP!" Morris screamed, opening his eyes, before suddenly wishing he hadn't. Johnny's grin told his story, it seemed. It was that grin he wore as he watched Spike die, in the video whenever he slammed Asuka's head down another time, as he beat her for much of the rest of that day, as he tortured Xiaoyu, as he butchered Morris in the warehouse. It was almost as he was getting some torrid, almost sexual thrill from simply the act of causing pain. He seemed to breathe in Morris's awe, as if a chef smelling the finest dish he ever cooked. As the conversation had gone on, he had gone back to his old ways, but now Morris was almost sure the reddened burns and black flesh had been replaced with skin the image of Johnny was so thick in his mind.

"Keep begging." Johnny asked Morris, his grin unbearably happy. "It makes me happier." He blinked slowly, wincing in pain as his left foot seemed to flare up on cue. He seemed to crush it on the floor, as if telling it to shut up and accept the role it was meant to play. He looked to Morris, who was staring at his weaker leg, and chuckled. "Don't think observing my weaknesses will do you a lick of good."

"What makes you think it won't?" In response, Johnny very slowly, very surely, placed his hand in his hoodie front pocket, and pulled out a familiar syringe. The clear liquid inside glowed from the light that shone into the dugout.

"I have an inclination." He drawled simply and callously, hissing nastily under his breath. He shrugged his shoulders once more, wearing a mask of happy indifference, as if he were simply a barber cutting Morris's short hair before suddenly slamming the syringe into Morris's chest, and pressed down onto the plunger, forcing the relaxant into Morris's heart. All of it was drained quickly, painlessly and efficiently, and he pulled the syringe out with speed. "You'll die in five minutes."

Morris had only felt real fear twice in his life. Once was ten years ago, when he had just murdered somebody. He was scared of what he would do. Scared of who could find out, and what they would do as a punishment. Then there was the time he realised that Asuka was gone, just five days ago. Neither topped this moment though, when the words announcing that his fate was inevitable escaped Johnny's dry, dying lips. Morris had never been worried by death. He was too proud to consider the idea that he could be killed. He had ran from all his problems out of a desperation to not solve them. He felt he could escape from every situation, and treat it as if he already had. This was different. It was no longer 'I could die' or 'I'm very close to dying' or even 'I think that milk was rotten' but now, it was simple. He _was _going to die. For a second time. A more certain time. He looked to his chest. No evidence. No pain. Nothing. But he somehow knew. He had five minutes to live and counting. He looked to Johnny, who smiled politely back.

"Morris, we only live once." He said. "You, however, will get the privilege of dying twice." He stood up and walked towards the light. "Your little bitch Asuka? Only once." He felt for his hoodie pocket, looking for a gun as Morris's teeth ground into each other. Johnny pulled a black snub from the pouch, a small triangle that he wrapped his hand around.

"She's not my bitch." Morris spat. "She's not anyone's anything."

"She is somebody's something." Johnny said, becoming more animated and joyful now. "She is my victim. I have killed exactly three hundred and twenty six people, and she's the only one I'll probably remember the name of come ten years or so." His eyes rolled to observe Morris, smiling with a joy that seemed to say that he was at complete peace, a sweet smile of a dying man, knowing that his purpose that been carried out. Morris was sickened. "Morris, when the bullet bashed through her skin and her flesh and her bone, tell me how much she means to you." Knowing exactly what words to say to really prick at Morris's psyche, he pointed his pistol out to the light. "Say goodbye to the little bitch, Morris. You've got one chance." He aimed carefully, but Morris didn't even have to consider what to do for a second. He was a creature of indecision, but now he was surer about this than any other thing he had ever felt in his life.

"You talk such bullshit!"

Despite his withering strength, he pushed forwards, smashing into Johnny with horrific force. The gun flew away as the two became basked in the light of the stadium once more. The fight had progressed little, with Asuka concentrating on Unknown and Xiaoyu distracting Devil, keeping Unknown from taking his power. Asuka had a spare moment, and looked to Morris, who had dropped onto his belly, his broken rib suddenly flaring in distress. "What's been keeping you?" She asked, rushing over to pick him up. "Come on, we have a fight to win."

"Run." He said simply. She looked to him sharply.

"What?" She asked. Morris looked into her eyes, and they pierced her with crushing dread.

"JUST RUN! BEFORE…" Suddenly, he watched as a brown and grey bar flipped over her head and around her neck. She was suddenly pulled into the chest of Johnny Showdown, himself struggling to stand. Morris shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, that." Asuka choked slightly, and pushed back into Johnny, who pulled her back with him, keeping his crutch around her neck. Morris tried to stand, but blood escaped his chest and belly. He looked, ripping at his shirt to observe. He was right in his assumption, one of his ribs had snapped painfully, blood spilling out of the wound. He tugged at his own shirt, ripping away the material from the diaphragm down, and wrapped it as a makeshift bandage. He wearily stood up to run to Johnny, but was suddenly crushed under a large black paw. He looked to Unknown, who had time to recover.

"_You fuel me with your hatred_." It said. "_It'll be strange killing you, but it must ha-ARGH!_" It suddenly screamed. Morris had pushed the middle and ring finger apart, hurting the wolf and allowing him to run with tears of pain in his eyes to Johnny, whose own face remained blank. Morris punched at his face, and forced him back. Asuka dropped forward slightly, coughing, falling slowly to her knees, then to her hands, then the floor. This was an issue of balance, however, and she rose quickly to see that her attacker was being clawed at frantically at by Morris, whose eyes burned with anger. Suddenly, he stopped. It seemed the attacker only brushed his chest with a light punch, but Morris fell back with scarlet breath escaping his shocked mouth.

"Who the hell was…" She looked to her attacker, who was fumbling on the metal desperately, trying to regain his stature, but laughing at the same time, laughing at the futility of Morris's actions, before suddenly coughing, each hack seeming to cause a great deal of pain.

"You've got four minutes, Wellington! Don't waste them trying to stop me!" The happy splutter shocked her, her mouth dropping, her stomach coiling in both hatred and terror. She knew it too well.

"YOU!" She shouted, suddenly glowing more ferociously than before. She launched towards him. Johnny found his gun, pointing it to the leaping figure.

"Regenerate from this, you little bitch." He said calmly, crushing the trigger in his hand. However, Xiaoyu had been thrown towards him by Devil and knocked his aim down, missing Asuka. He swung his crutch angrily, knocking Asuka away. Xiaoyu looked to Johnny, and recognised the face. The area he had kicked over and over those many few nights ago flared in pain, remembering his boot pressing down. "YOU MADE ME MISS!" He howled, shooting at her feet as she dropped to the floor. She fumbled backwards, firstly on her bottom pushing her legs out frantically, before standing and backing away, a frozen terror on her face as he suddenly scrambled to attack her, flipping instantly from disgusting joy to an even worse anger. Her fear conquered all other sense. She felt helpless against Johnny as he batted her on the shoulder, causing her to fall. Morris suddenly grabbed Johnny on the shoulders, pulling back and bashing his head onto Johnny's withered neck in desperation, allowing Xiaoyu to back to a safe distance. Johnny had begun to drool, and saliva dripped all over the floor.

"Four minutes I intend to use well!" Morris shouted, but he was batted away by Johnny's strong right arm, who had cruelly slammed a harsh slap onto his broken rib and caused more blood to stain the jacket, and he staggered back, weakness from a withering heartbeat causing him to wince slowly.

"I'M NOT WASTING MY TIME ON YOU!" Johnny turned to Asuka as she launched a desperate attack, but he punched her in the stomach. As she staggered back in pain, he plucked his crutch into his hands, a double grip batting into her head. She fell to the floor, and he smashed her twice again with the same motion. Morris grabbed him from the back, but Johnny didn't stop. He was a frenzied ape now, drooling, slobbering, salivating, his constant growling a thunder, his eyes becoming bloodshot. Asuka rolled away, preparing a fireball.

"Remember this?" She said, blasting at Johnny. Johnny suddenly snapped out of Morris's grip, slipping to the floor easily as the flame slammed straight into Morris. It was a trained move, and he knew to do it as the fireball rocketed Morris back like a ragdoll.

"WATCH YOUR FUCKING AIM, BITCH!" Morris shouted angrily, before stumbling towards Johnny, attempting a run. The answer was a wheel of death as Johnny spun on his good leg, snapping the crutch into Morris, a tremendous clap sending blood splattering along the metal grating. Morris stumbled backwards, and dropped to his knees, feeling his head ache as the lack of oxygen began to hit. He swerved uncomfortably, before readying another charge. He was stopped by a paw, however, as it slammed straight into him, the knuckle of the middle finger ramming his temple and stunning him. He looked to see that Jun had regained control, and that the wolf had shrunk. _So Johnny was right. The wolf is fuelled by hatred. And Jun liked Johnny so the wolf has less influence, right?_ To answer his question, she stepped towards him as he slowly crawled over to Asuka, snarling like an animal.

"Johnny?" She asked, as if she was once again Jun Kazama. He turned to her quickly. "Johnny Sho…"

_**BANG**_

The shot was incredibly sloppy, a quick turn as Johnny heard the beginnings of his name, and whirled around, striking Unknown with hot lead. It wouldn't kill, barely hinder, but he didn't take much note, only hoping to shut Unknown up.

"Don't _ever_ say my name in public." He seethed, his eyes becoming nearly red, his drooling becoming a never ending torrent. He placed the smoking pistol in-between his teeth, turning to crawl over to Asuka, hoping to regain stance on his crutch. Unknown touched the wound, noticing the blood that poured out of her stomach as she dropped onto her knees. Asuka scowled at Johnny's crawling form.

"YOU FUCKING MANIAC! I'LL BEAT YOU INTO…" She suddenly got a hard smack from his crutch.

"Nice one, Asuka, taunt the crazy man with a superiority complex who you set fire to." Morris coughed, getting up. He began to run to attack Johnny, but felt a bullet sent into his shoulder, spinning him in the air and causing him to drop onto the floor. He looked up to Johnny, who was stood fully, putting his gun into his mouth so he had a hand free to punch with.

"Fwee aa gha halh menes." He stated through the pistol in his mouth, but Morris heard every word clearly. _Three and a half minutes_. Johnny turned to the approaching Asuka, who landed two phenomenally strong punches, sending Johnny scrambling back.

"YOU BASTARD!" She screamed, landing another punch. A fourth was sent, but snapped against the crutch of metal and wood, and she felt her left hand break under the force. She pulled it back, as Johnny suddenly slammed all his weight into her stomach with said crutch, pushing her up to the grated fence. He suddenly began punching her. No need to. It was actually impractical, but not Morris, not Xiaoyu, nobody in fact, seemed able to move. Johnny was slow, his punches infrequent, each one like an asteroid, causing Asuka to spit up tooth enamel and gore. Asuka pushed back the odd time, but Johnny wasn't stopping with the barrage. He pulled the crutch back finally, balancing on one leg, pushing the crutch with one hand against her bust, and he got the gun out of his jaw, pointing it to her head.

"You little bitch." He spat, before he suddenly dropped, firing his gun as it pasted between her legs, blasting through the fence and probably hitting somebody, he couldn't see as tears of pain rattled his senses when a hand pulled and squeezed at his weaker left leg.

"And you said that observing your weaknesses wouldn't help…" Morris didn't finish his sentence as the crutch's end pushed against his eye. He was forced off, before Johnny smacked his palm under Morris's nose, the fingers curled towards the eyes. They pressed onto Morris's eyelids, and as they suddenly curled into them, the palm also dragged up into the bottom of his nose, beginning to break it and cause it to bleed in harmony with Morris's eyes as he wailed in pain. Johnny did this for two seconds before being snapped off by a frantic Asuka. Johnny sneered as Morris's curled into a ball, screaming and holding his face in his hands, gore dripping through his fingers.

"You're one to talk, time bomb! Three minutes!" He pulled himself to his feet, backing into Asuka and forcing her into the grating, crushing her, kicking at the side of Morris's head as he did, who staggered on his hands and knees awkwardly. Johnny pulled himself forward as Asuka was bounced into the arena, sidestepping her and dropping her into Morris, his nose broken and bloody and his eyes with scratch marks around them. He re-readied his gun.

"Johnny!" Came a familiar voice. "Why are you…" Johnny rolled his eyes in frustration, and pointing his gun to Wang Jinrei on impulse and firing his last bullet, felling the old man instantly. Everyone's eyes matched Jinrei's shocked own as he staggered quickly back, the black bubble dripping down his stomach like the tears that were in his eyes, as he keeled over backwards. Johnny threw the now useless gun to the floor.

"WHY CAN'T ANYONE JUST ROLL OVER AND ACCEPT IT?" He shouted very suddenly. "WHY DON'T ANY OF YOU JUST DO AS I SAY AND DIE?"

"Johnny, what did you do…" Jun's voice stammered, blood still dripping from her stomach, as the wolf that was Unknown couldn't regain control of the situation. Even Devil, the reason Morris was here in the first place, was rooted to the spot in the glee of a spectator watching gore fly at a gladiatorial fight. He was enjoying this, and was content to watch the furious animal at the centre of attention bawl in blind rage.

"SHUT UP, WHORE!" Johnny turned to Unknown, and she complied, simply watching him as a deer would a hunter. Johnny turned back to Morris and Asuka, who began to stand up. Asuka scowled dangerously and looked ferocious. Morris matched the scowl, but looked in agony. He was bleeding heavily, from his nose, from his broken rib, from his shoulder. "Two and a half minutes." He reminded Morris, who clenched his fists weakly. "TWO AND A HALF MINUTES! CAN'T YOU JUST STAY DOWN AND SIMPLY WATCH FOR TWO AND A HALF MINUTES?"

"Fuck you, arsehole." Morris said, punching out to Johnny. Suddenly, he felt a flash of weakness, dropping to his knees once more, unable to make contact. "What the…" Then he remembered. He heard his last heartbeat. Now his brain was using up the last of its oxygen. Johnny's ferocious, uncontrolled kick stuttered some life into the pathetic heart, giving him maybe another thirty seconds to live. However, he didn't want thirty seconds more. He just wanted it to end right now. The pain, the agony, was unbearable. It was an unstoppable force that hit him with the force and frequency of a pneumatic drill that made him beg for the end. His eyes closed, too weak to stay open, his body too weak to move. Johnny stooped over him.

"GET UP!" He shouted, stomping at his stomach that was still bloody from the crutch in the dugout. "YOU CAN NEVER DIE! NO MATTER WHAT ANYBODY DOES, YOU JUST COME BACK, SO GET UP!" Morris coughed some blood up as Johnny began to furiously pummel the face with quick fists, just hoping for a response. "GET UP NOW!" Johnny screamed angrily, drooling constantly, letting the saliva drip onto Morris's face. He sneered when he got no reply. "You fuck-up."

"HE ISN'T A FUCK-UP!" Asuka screamed. Her fist burnt with white fire. "YOU ARE!" She pulled the fist back to attack, but Johnny's back fist smacked into her, dropping her to the floor, dispelling the flame. The audience was speechless as Asuka rolled onto her back slowly, desperate to fight back defiantly. Her hand prepared another fireball, but Johnny was quick and livid, holding his crutch in a two handed grip.

"So, has he ever kissed you?" He seethed angrily. The question confused Asuka enough to warrant a pause. "Like here?" He suddenly slammed the handle of his crutch down to her crotch. She screamed without noise, breath escaped her open mouth as pain rippled through her body, stunning her completely. "Or maybe here?" Johnny pressed his strong right foot onto her left breast, the same place as her burn mark. She felt as if the cigar was torturing her all over again as she whimpered. "Oh, I know where he kissed you…" Johnny said as he pushed his knees onto each of her spread out arms, causing them to ache. He flipped the crutch in his hands, still slobbering, still drooling; his face an angry mess, gory and creased with frenzied anger, his eyes bloodshot and his right eye reddening. "… here." He pushed the crutch into her neck. Asuka's breath had already been forced out by Johnny's previous strikes, and now she couldn't last for a minute, and the crutch came down with so much force she thought it might break. Her eyes winced in pain.

_Remember, Mor…_

Asuka felt hot dribble rain down on her, but then she felt a heavier liquid.

_Remember, Morris.__Mum and…_

She opened her eyes with her last remaining strength to see Johnny's face, contorted in ugly rage, but she was startled by the fact that his right eye was actually bleeding. The left bloodshot, but the right was completely red, and blood rolled down his cheek and dripped onto her, one drop hitting her eye and causing a sting that commanded that she spasm.

_Remember, Morris. Mum and Dad died for…_

"_**DIE!**_" Johnny suddenly wailed, gore spluttering out of the right, bleeding eye sporadically. Several blood vessels had burst in his eye out of stress and rage, unable to cope with the strain that Johnny forced into his body. "_**JUST DIE!**_"

_Remember, Morris.__Mum and Dad died for you. You bet…_

"_**NOBODY DEFIES ME!**_" His slobber now began to become foam, as if he was a dog with rabies.

_Remember, Morris.__Mum and Dad died for you. You better make it worth…_

"_**NOBODY!**_"

_Remember, Morris. Mum and Dad died for you. You better make it worth it, or…_

"_**YOU'LL DIE! MORRIS TOO!"**_

_Remember, Morris. Mum and Dad died for you. You better make it worth it, or I'll kill you myself._

"_**SO WHY CAN'T YOU JUST ROLL OVER AND BEG LIKE DOGS!" **_

"Hey, world's most bad tempered kissogram, I've got an idea."

"_**BEG FOR LIFE! BEG FOR DEATH! JUST BEG! JUST FUCKING BEG!"**_

Asuka's legs began to stop shaking as her eyes started to lose their focus. Johnny's eye bled freely and the slobber flowed through his gritted teeth like a waterfall passing through the mountainside.

"_**WHY AREN'T YOU BEGGING?"**_

Asuka couldn't gain the strength to beg for life, or death. Her eyes refocused to see Johnny's face, no longer seeming to have any emotion or life, just a face of stone, with a red river running down the cheek and falling onto her face. He didn't show anger, but desperation. Asuka suddenly coughed.

"_**BEG AND DIE LIKE THE BITCH YOU ARE!"**_

His face became a blank, not even hatred showing on the face anymore. He shook and stared unendingly as Asuka's eyes began to close.

"Johnny, does this situation seem familiar to you?"

Asuka gasped as Johnny's grip momentarily let go. She used the chance to flip him off, throwing him away. He rolled quickly. Asuka didn't move, regaining her strength. She then turned her head to Morris, himself staggering painfully, still bleeding horrifically from rib and shoulder and nose, and then to Johnny, who was feeling for his crutch, his face once again curling into rage. He winced with his right eye, forcing tears of blood to flow out.

"You…" He said in a breath.

"You've lost, Johnny." Morris snarled. "I'm going to put everything right, so give up." Johnny looked to Morris blankly, before his lips began to curl.

"Heeeeeeh heh, heh! Heah ha haargh yuagh pluh pluh!" Johnny's right eye began to bleed more heavily and infrequently as he began to retch, a pathetic splutter of a dying engine. "You and whose army?" He finally said, his throat still groaning in pain. "Two minutes left to defeat me, a devil and a giant wolf made of hatred?" He sneered. "A smart person would use that time writing a will."

"I'm not smart." Morris said calmly, slipping into his fighting stance as Johnny stood up. "But I'm still crafty. And if that wolf's made of hatred, Jun can't attack you because she doesn't hate you. So what if I mentioned to that wolf that somebody hated you more than Jun hates me." Johnny plucked at his crutch, using it to support his rise to his feet.

"Who? You?" He said, sniggering. Then he stopped. He thought. His breathing calmed, then rose to tension again as Morris' usual smirk returned to its rightful resting place.

"Nope." He said simply. Johnny looked over to a corner that he unconsciously remembered. It was vacant. His eyes suddenly contained fear, the same fear that gripped him at the warehouse.

"SCHOOLGIRL!" He suddenly shouted, wheeling around to Unknown. The black gunk that had clung to her skin was gone, leaving a stunned, silent, tearful Jun Kazama. "SHIT!" Johnny shouted, scrambling for his crutch, which he only just noticed was no longer in his hands. Then his hand touched a foot. He pulled it away, black gunk sticking to him slightly. He then observed the foot, then the legs, then the body, and gulped. The figure was entirely black. No wolf. No need for that form. Unknown and Xiaoyu had quite literally become one, the black completely replacing her skin, with only yellow eyes visible at all. Her hands twisted on the crutch they held, snapping the metal and wood as if it were a candy cane. Johnny's right eye twitched in pain, still bleeding.

"Who needs armies?" Morris asked Johnny as Xiaoyu grabbed Johnny in one blackened hand, and raised him far above her head. "You've beaten her terribly." Johnny's legs dangled helplessly as he choked, the hand wrapping around his neck. "You didn't let up. And shooting her grandfather didn't do you any favours." His arms, however, curled. His fists clenched. He opened his right eye, the blood completely obscuring the iris, simply pouring down his cheek. "So, Johnny, are you scared now that it's all catching up to you?" Johnny began to snarl, like a cornered animal, which was exactly how he felt. No flight now. No running. Only death and Johnny refused to let him be the dead one at the end of this.

"BULL…" He wailed, punching Xiaoyu square in the face. His arm was longer, and Xiaoyu was forced to drop him. – SHIT!" He kicked his weaker leg out, forcing her back, before looking to Morris. "Do your worst, dead-man-walking." Morris sneered.

"Says you." He spat. "… cripple."

Johnny's right eye spattered blood out again as he snarled. The personal insult had sent Johnny over the edge. It didn't matter if Morris was already going to die; he just had to suffer for that. He leapt forward at Morris, but collapsed on the first step, sliding on his stomach for a short distance. He could only ask his weak leg so much, and finally it refused to move. Morris smiled gleefully.

"So, how's that fatted calf coming?" He asked. "It looks like you're not so superior after all." Johnny suddenly started to scream in rage, crawling his way over to Morris with incredibly speed. Morris didn't even realise what was going on as Johnny pulled at his legs, and sent him heel over head onto the floor. Morris gasped in pain, his broken rib crying with voiceless pain. Johnny clambered over Morris.

"I HATE YOU I HATE YOU AND I WANT YOU TO DIE!" Johnny bawled like a child, slamming his hand's into Morris's face repeatedly, sometimes punching, sometimes scratching but just hoping to cause pain.

"XIAOYU, WHERE ARE YOU?" Morris shouted in hope. Xiaoyu was helping Asuka to her feet. Unknown had actually receded at Asuka's touch, and Xiaoyu regained complete control. Asuka wheezed in agony.

"Asuka…" Xiaoyu started, also in pain. "- I can't keep control for very long… I'm going to get Unknown to focus on attacking Johnny. I'm going to… hold him down, and you've got a clear shot for me, Devil and Johnny…"

"What?" Asuka asked, barely capable of breathing, never mind processing information. Xiaoyu gestured to Jun.

"Jun's going to… realise what's happened… and…" Xiaoyu held onto Asuka for support as she dropped to the floor. "… send out energy… you have to focus… it towards us…"

"But won't you get hurt?" Xiaoyu didn't reply, and Asuka saw why as her skin started to blacken again. Asuka backed away as she began to snarl, her yellow gaze turning to the frantic yelps and barks and twisting forms of Morris and Johnny. Their fight was no longer a fight. Fights have a flow. Even the most brutal and pointless clashes have wills and grace, however little. This was simply a mess, the two not really caring whether one won or lost so long as they killed the other. Johnny couldn't stand up, but his energetic spasms were dangerous and horrible, slashing and kicking and punching at Morris, who despite being a superior fighter, Johnny never having learnt any martial art, staggered aimlessly, pain rattled his form and his body slowly being drained of life. He pulled Johnny up by the collar and punched him once. Johnny spat in Morris's face.

"ONE AND THIRTY, BASTARD!" He barked, slapping his open palm onto Morris's head, who dropped him and lurched back, groaning pathetically and dropping to the floor, his head rattling and reeling.

"How can this get any worse?" He moaned slowly, his eyes wincing. As they opened, he saw Xiaoyu standing over him, a completely black form, and Morris sighed. "Had to fucking happen…" He couldn't feel the pain as a foot slammed onto his stomach, his breath being thrown out of his body. Just another agonising complaint to add to the list. He rolled to the side, seeing Johnny's burnt red face coming closer at a dizzying pace.

"WHY AREN'T YOU DEAD YET?" Came a bawl from Johnny as he placed a bony black hand on Morris's face and curled in, his nails digging into his cheeks. Blood circled around the fingers, before he was suddenly pulled away. He looked to Xiaoyu, whose iron grip caused Johnny's hands to flare in pain, the black oil clutching at his burns. The arena fencing shook as he wailed in pain and anger. "**GET OFF ME YOU CHILD!**" His hand escaped one of the hands and clapped around Xiaoyu's face, but she didn't move, rather it was as if she didn't even know he had hit her.

"Johnny Showdown!" Came Asuka's voice. Johnny looked to her, and his right eye opened on impulse, a bloody glare being shot towards her.

"_**YOU!"**_ He yelled, his voice so loud it echoed throughout the arena. _**"DON'T THINK FOR A MINUTE I'VE FORGOTTEN ABOUT YOU!"**_

"I beat you once, I'll beat you again!" She shouted back, and Johnny suddenly got a tremendous fear in the depths of his heart. He looked to Jun, who was glowing with a white aura as tears ran down her cheeks. He looked to Morris, who was on the floor laughing. He looked to Xiaoyu's hands, gripping on for dear life. He finally looked to Unknown, who had begun to try and split from Xiaoyu, realising the danger. Johnny shook with rage.

"… you pathetic shit…" A tear of blood dribbled down his chin. Xiaoyu's face fell forward as Unknown's blackness split away slightly, the silhouette of a wolf's head desperately and fearfully pulling away to no avail. Xiaoyu looked to Unknown.

"You've tried to hurt people…" She said with little breath in her body. "… people I like, hate, or don't know, but _people_… and you…" Her eyes suddenly snapped to Johnny as he writhed desperately, an angry glare frozen on his face. The two pierced each other with harsh stabbing eyes. "… you kicked and tortured me… you kidnapped Asuka… you… shot… my… grandpa…" Johnny sneered slightly.

"Well, maybe if you grew this brave beforehand, it wouldn't have happened!" Johnny spat in her face, and looked over to Asuka for a fleeting second. He saw white fire leap from Jun into the air, and he saw Asuka somehow focusing it towards them, and timed his attack perfectly. Just as Asuka's hands became white, he kneed Xiaoyu up into the air with one lucky hit, and pushed himself away, just avoiding the blast as it consumed Xiaoyu and Unknown and shrouded them in flame. He looked around, hoping that Asuka wouldn't turn to him. She couldn't though, fixed to the spot by the raw power running through the air from Jun to her and through her hands and will. He saw Devil nervously stepping back, about to flee, before the white flames engulfed him too as the line curved to him. He saw Kazuya stand up and leave, and decided it would be best to follow suit.

"Oh no you don't…" Morris's hand leapt to Johnny's leg, and Johnny burst into tears of pain, visibly shaking, before suddenly turning.

"_**YOU FUCKING…"**_ Johnny cried, leaping to Morris and beginning to punch desperately. He saw Morris's protruding broken rib, and proceeded to slam it, causing Morris to wail. _**"ONE MINUTE! ONE MINUTE AND YOU JUST COULDN'T LET THE INEVITABLE HAPPEN!"**_ Johnny knew that Morris was going to die regardless, and that it was a bad idea to stay, but he didn't care. He didn't even think about caring. He didn't even think about anything. He just wanted to cause pain, agonising pain for everyone and anyone he could get his hands on, and it was working. Morris was howling in anguish, begging for Johnny to stop. _**"YOU'VE RUINED ME! YOU… ARGH! EEURGH!"**_ Johnny started to cough and retch and splutter, but still he kept on hitting Morris in the vain hope of just making his last moments as miserable as possible.

"Johnny…" Came a soft voice that trembled with some unknown emotion. Johnny turned, his fist outstretched, smacking Jun across the cheek. A droplet of blood escaped as she was flung away a few metres. Johnny spat at her.

"_**OH, YOU WANT SOME TOO, DO YOU?"**_ He shouted, crawling over on his stomach. Jun looked to him, rage coiling her crown and burning in her eyes. The cut across the cheek healed, as did her bullet wound.

"You bastard!" She seethed. "Unknown hid you from me! Told me that Morris and Asuka killed you in cold blood! Now I see exactly what you are! And I can help you, but only if you get off him!" She couldn't finish the command, however, as Johnny's hands wrapped around her neck.

"_**ALWAYS THOSE WORDS FROM EVERY ONE OF YOUR WEAK PATHETIC KIND!"**_ He screamed in her face. _**"ALWAYS 'I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU, I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU' LIKE MULING DONKEYS! IF YOU WERE HELPING ME YOU'D BE EITHER A KILLER OR DEAD! SO GO ON! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO HELP ME, JUN? WHAT NOW?"**_

"… nothing…" Came a wheeze from Morris. Johnny suddenly felt his hands wrap around his stomach. "… you're _my_ responsibility…" Then, using up all his strength, he lifted Johnny off the floor, and staggered over the stream of white fire. Each step took five seconds and put Morris into tremendous amounts of pain, but stepped he did. His left forward, he felt like being sick from the pain. His right forward, he was about to faint. Left right left right laboriously staggering to his destination as if nothing else mattered other than getting Johnny into the white stream of fire. Johnny looked into the flames and began to scream.

"_**NO! NO NO NO NO!"**_ He shouted in horror. He wiggled desperately to get out of Morris's grip. _**"LET ME GO! PLEASE! PLEASE! LET ME GO!"**_

"I knew you were a beggar…" Morris whispered, before falling into the fire.

For Johnny, it was hell on Earth.

Pain was a substance, not a feeling, and it clawed in through Johnny's nostrils and his mouth. He screamed as his insides burnt, and he pushed both his legs on the ground, forcing the weak Morris to fall back too, before collapsing in a faint. Morris sighed slightly. He felt no pain from the fire, despite the fact that he could feel it on his skin. He didn't burn. He wondered why for a moment, as he lay on his back looking to the black sky and the stars dotted like fish in the ocean, until he saw Asuka tiredly stumble over to him, pulling at his chest with her hands, unable to lift him, before simply dropping onto him, and smiling that smile that Morris had very much fell in love with; small in size, large in passion and feeling.

"Morris, it's over…" She murmured, before pulling him into a hug.

Morris didn't quite know what to feel. He was a lost sailor somewhere between the shores that were fatigue and relief, but the sea was choppy and unending terror clamped his heart. Tears ran down both his and Asuka's cheeks, conjoining as they pressed together to kiss and falling away into the loud and chaotic air, tired breaths and shouts for ambulances and police filling the arena. Morris seethed as the rib was pressed and crushed by Asuka's body, but he returned the hug and the kiss desperately. He really did feel as if it was over.

_It is over. For you._

Morris sighed in exhaustion as Asuka pulled away, getting to her knees and pulled herself to her legs, their lips reluctant to part but desperate for air. He got up with difficulty as Asuka explained the state of everyone around him without him fully listening; Jun? Shaken, crying but completely unwounded, probably thanks to Unknown leaving her body and her powers giving a flux to heal herself… Xiaoyu? Not much better. No burns as can be seen, though unconscious. Jin? Same. Jinrei? Amazingly, the bullet wasn't a lethal shot. Johnny's eyes must've already been messing up as the blood vessels began to burst. Another centimetre to the left and Jinrei would be dead for sure. Asuka kept up this barrage of information as Morris simply staggered to his feet, only caring about if she was ok. It was her that Johnny was after anyway.

"Did I make it worth it?" Morris asked finally, half unconscious himself. Asuka raised an eyebrow.

"Make what worth what?" She asked. Morris decided it was best not to explain it. He didn't want to die while telling her the painful story of his revelation.

"Doesn't matter now." He held Asuka's hands. "You know I love you, right?" Asuka just laughed. Traumatic experiences such as this affect people differently, and Asuka felt giddy and cheerful, glad that there was no reason to fight anymore. The fire had cooled her and made the pain on her throat go away. She caught the attention of Morris's slow eyes with a mischievous wink.

"Morris Wellington not making some smug statement after a fight?" She asked. "Bears don't shit in the woods anymore! No 'Damn right baby' or maybe a 'Told you so' or simply grabbing my tits?" Morris just smiled.

"Don't need to say, you know exactly how fucking amazing I am..." He swayed slightly. "- not quite, feeling it any, way… too, tired… I need to, lie down for a… for a bit." He said, before keeling over backwards. Asuka just kept smiling, though it became less mischievous and more contemplative, observing him with loving eyes.

"That was a quick transition from war to peace, wasn't it?" She said to herself quietly.

"_**ARRRRRGH!"**_

"Then again…" Asuka became a lot angrier as she turned to the source of the scream. Johnny was somehow still writhing, still conscious. His right eye was spilling blood and drool was pouring out of his mouth through gritted teeth. He couldn't even gather the strength to stand up or even get to his knees, his weak leg dragging on the floor, but still he crawled laboriously on his stomach nearer and nearer, hoping to kill her. Before, he terrified Asuka, but now she simply saw a weak and hopeless animal, a frenzied bear in a cage; pitiable, in fact. Asuka walked over calmly as Johnny, on the floor in pain, looked to her with unbridled hatred and unhinged fury.

"YOU BITCH!" He shouted as she finally stopped somewhere close to his head. He pushed with his hands closer to her. "YOU FUCKING BITCH! I'LL KILL YOU! YOU'RE THE DAUGHTER OF A THOUSAND FATHERS, ALL BASTARD CHILDREN LIKE YOU, AND I WILL _**MURDER**_ YOU!" Asuka frowned.

"You're on the floor." She explained him calmly, though she barely held the anger that frothed in her blood at the sight of him. "You've just been beaten badly by two teenagers and a drunkard whose over ten years younger than you. What can you possibly do to hurt me?" Johnny's hand whipped for her face, but she easily blocked it. "You've lost."

"…" Johnny's right eye closed firmly, wincing as more blood dripped away. "… AAAAH!" He suddenly dropped onto his back, beginning to cry as the horrible truth hit him, and his ego very abruptly shrivelled away and began to die. He was used to winning, and now he knew how weak he really was, he couldn't cope, bawling and choking on his own tears like a child. Two men came up behind him; Lei Wulong, a famous police officer, and another man of same profession. They grabbed him easily by the arms and began to drag him away. He breathed through his nose with haste and tension, though he put up no fight. He seemed to have resigned to his defeat. Asuka kept up a glare to match his.

"Persistent little bastard, isn't he, Morris?" She asked. No reply. She turned her head slowly. "Morris?"

She crawled quickly over to his spread eagled form.

"Morris! Stop kidding around!"

She suddenly felt tremendous dread. "… Morris?" Her hand, trembling, scanned his neck. Nothing.

"… no, Morris, seriously, not funny anymore..." She pushed her hand against his chest. Nothing.

"PLEASE!"

Tears began to drop down her face.

"WAKE UP!"

"WAKE UP!"

"NOT AFTER ALL WE'VE BEEN THROUGH, YOU CAN'T DIE NOW!"

"PLEASE, I…"

"I LOVE YOU, YOU CAN'T JUST DIE NOW!"

"THERE WAS THE TOURNAMENT, THE WAREHOUSE, THE HOSPITAL, AND WE'VE JUST WON THE FINAL FIGHT!"

She pulled him up and hugged his body, hoping for him to start moving.

"WE'VE JUMPED EVERY HURDLE TOGETHER!"

"IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS!"

"NOT LIKE THIS!"

"DON'T DIE!"

"DON'T DIE!"

"That's right..." Came a small, weak voice. "- beg... _**BEG!"**_

_He couldn't have… _Asuka thought as her head turned. Johnny was on the floor again, being searched for weapons. Laying a small distance from him, a completely empty syringe. _Oh god no, he did…_ Johnny's lips curled with glee. His ego gave one last splutter, a dying engine on its last trip. He couldn't win, true, but he could at least have the last laugh.

"Heh…" Johnny shook weakly. "Ha… ha ha…!" Despite two people holding him down, he flipped onto his back and laughter began to ring louder and louder in the stadium, before the coughing and retching began all over again.


	18. Epilogue

****

**Epilogue**

**Disclaimer – Ok, Team Ninja... you ruined Samus Aran spectacularly, betrayed and raped her previously established character and made the single worst game of the last five years, but I'm more than willing to forgive you, if you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't put her in a bikini and give her the same simpering personality as before in the new 'Dead or Alive'.**

**By the way, before we begin, I've finally played Tekken 6, and can now announce that if you use Miguel online, you offically suck.**

* * *

Six days after the murder of Morris Wellington

Kyoto

00:12

Hand slammed against metal. The mailbox rang in the midnight as Johnny struggled to stand up. He had decided against going to hospital until he was out of Japan. The police were still looking for him since he had given them the slip, and he wasn't exactly conspicuous anymore, with the burns and the painful limp, and now he had a right eye that refused to stop bleeding. He shoved his right hand onto said eye, checking the abandoned street, looking behind, then in front. No one. Perfect. Johnny knew that before he could leave, he had to pick up his prize, a prize he had culminated over the years.

He never trusted banks. He always got his money in physical notes, and he hid his treasure in his trove, this mailbox. It was grotty and unused, perfectly inconspicuous. It was often used to give him money when he was in Japan, but nobody knew that it was also where he kept the rest of his money. After all, who'd look where they checked every day?

First, he felt the bottom of the metal box, looking for the secret compartment. His free hand scurried, his right slowly being coated in blood from his eye, finally feeling a chink in the plane of aluminium. Fiddling desperately, he snapped the trapdoor open with a desperate grit and collected the contents, ten wads of white and purple notes. He fumbled through one quickly, counting the notes in sets of five, constantly checking for passers-by.

"Hundred, two, three, four, five…" On and on, and then once again, until he was absolutely sure of the bounty's value. He even checked the other wads, while not counting, making sure the notes were real. It took him almost half an hour, but eventually, he had finished, and was surprised of the high bounty. Half a million pounds sterling. A wad each worthy fifty grand.

Afterwards, he suddenly slammed the side of the mailbox, and he watched as a flap smacked out slightly. He smirked, looking at the lock inside the flap, before pushing his fingers into his hair. It had been years in there, and the superglue tore away a large chunk of hair with agonising effect, but he had the key in his hand now, and placed it in the lock. Twisting, he opened the secret compartment.

Another ninety wads. Added to the bounty he got tonight, it all came to five million pounds, sterling. Johnny smiled, despite the pain of his face. He had hit the jackpot. This was almost all he had ever earned in his life, just in his hands. A lifetime of work. This was a lifetime free of responsibility. He was a multi-millionaire now.

"Excuse me, sir?" A timid voice sounded. Johnny wheeled around, keeping his money hidden. To any passer-by, he'd look like any other tramp, and he gave a quite convincing look of mild surprise towards the suited gentleman who backed away in fright. "You look hurt. Are you alright?" Johnny reached out to him shakily, pointing to a bag on his shoulder.

"Th-that bag…" He asked croakily. "I need it." The suited man looked curiously at him. Johnny coughed slightly. "I'll pay you. Absolutely anything you ask for, I can afford it." Johnny then smiled unconsciously at his own words. Of course he can afford it. The suited man bent down, looking to him.

"Sure thing." He said, turning to unzip the bag. He squatted on his knees, then realised his mistake. He turned to find a silencer prodding in his eye. "How'd you…"

"You spoke English to me despite the fact that we're in Japan." Johnny seethed, his right hand escaping his right to begin to pack the bag, the eye now a constant, slow ejection of scarlet tears. "Who sent you?"

"Yakuza." The man replied, stern now, steadying himself. "I have a few questions." Johnny sneered, the blackened lip twisting. "Why did you attack Kenta?" Johnny coughed slightly, trying to laugh but only spluttering painfully.

"I knew you guys didn't like him, what with doing deals outside the Yakuza." He answered. "I decided that seeing as he was probably going to get done in, I didn't want to get tied up and killed by your lot." The silencer then pressed further to the man, almost trying desperately to imprint its black hole into his eyeball. "So, is that what you're doing?"

"N-n-no." The man stuttered. He tried to keep calm, seeming aloof and unfazed. Being in the Yakuza meant that this situation was not uncommon, but the man on the trigger end had just been on the television and was still national news, maybe even international news, and his image wasn't one of class or restraint. He was foaming at the mouth, bleeding at the eye and snarling like an animal. Now, besides the eye, he seemed unlike the same man, but still, the idea that _that _was under the surface chilled him. "We just wanted to know what you were paying him. We'll ignore you afterwards; Kenta just wants all the loose ends tied up." The man got a rude shock when Johnny began to laugh, though only to have it become a hideous and loud hacking cough, retching and spluttering as if he was about to drop dead.

"A wo-PLUERARGH! A woman. Euhah!." He answered finally in-between coughs. "Decided to try and kill her… look where that got me." Johnny said, standing up, bag in hand and money in bag. He began to walk backwards, dropping to the floor as soon as he let go of the mailbox and crawling on his back, gun still to the Yakuza man, right eye still allowing scarlet drops to float away. "Asuka Kazama. Go with my blessing if you want, but if you don't want to look like me, drop it." The Yakuza man watched as Johnny backed into the darkness, before he stopped.

"How did you know that I was here?" He asked.

"Because I told him you'd be here."

Johnny looked to the owner of the voice that boomed behind him. The man wasn't even shouting, but the low Brixton rumble was just overpowering. The first thing anybody notices about this man is his eyes. They seemed mismatched, his skin being stern ebony but his eyes being a dull grey. However, it's the look in them that draws attention. Not to the emotion, but the utter lack of it. He never smiled, neither with eyes or lips. It was as if he didn't even notice you. And those same eyes were always moving, checking the distance for listeners or scanning the person he addresses. His bald head and his large build only added to the detached menace, amplified by the fact that he stood while Johnny and the Yakuza agent were both on their backs. He wore a simple hoodie and track-bottom trousers. Johnny raised an eyebrow.

"Craig Stamford?" He asked. Craig didn't answer, only turned his grey eyes on Johnny, who smiled nervously. "How long has it been?"

"Eight years, Mister Jonathan Alexei Smith. Known better by the alias Johnny Showdown to both friends and enemies." Came a growling reply, devoid of emotion of any kind. "Do you know why I came here?" Johnny was already suspicious, but now his nerves crackled with electricity. Something's wrong, they screamed, something's wrong.

"It wasn't for a tea party." He snarled, before kicking with his good leg, pushing himself away rapidly. Craig's foot, however, was a lightning bolt, hitting Johnny in the chest. Johnny growled in anger. Craig didn't even look at Johnny.

"Contrary to popular belief, a family grudge can be paid off." He stated. "Sometimes with blood. Sometimes with a favour. In my case, I was willing to allow the remaining Wellingtons to go free for money." He finally looked to Johnny, who unconsciously gulped. "Money that you have now deprived me of."

"As if he was going to win!" Came Johnny's panicked reply. "I thought you wanted him dead! I was doing you a favour! And what good does killing me do for you?"

"You could ask that woman… Asuka, I think… the same question." Craig said. "- and besides, I'm not here to kill you. Too much attention would be drawn." With this, he put his hand in his pocket, before pulling out a battered metal ball. "You dropped this."

"M-my yoyo!" Johnny reached for it, but Craig pulled it away.

"My yoyo now." He stated, before nodding to the Yakuza agent. Johnny looked behind him, seeing that his bag, with Johnny's money in it, was now hanging from the lamppost nearest to the mailbox. He looked back to Craig.

"What are you doing with my money?" He asked. "I thought you were letting me go."

"I know." Craig answered. "I'm not going to kill you." He put his hand in his breast pocket, pulling out a cigar. "Want a cigar?" Johnny nodded with curiosity, watching as Craig lit it. This was far too friendly. What was the plan? "Go get it." Came Craig's voice. Then, very suddenly, Craig threw the cigar straight at the bag. The flammable bag, designed for this purpose, lit almost immediately, with all the money inside. Johnny's jaw dropped and his eyes widened, watching the great fireball consume everything he had ever worked for.

"… you…" Johnny started, before drifting off and crawling on his stomach to under the bag. Flaming notes dropped, which Johnny reached for, unable to stand and get the money himself. Craig observed Johnny for a moment, before nodding to his Yakuza accomplice.

"Money's what you took from me, Johnny, so that's what I'll take from you. Enjoy your life." He said, before walking into the darkness, leaving a pathetic animal clawing for what was too far out of his reach.

* * *

_This really shouldn't be possible. Maybe the same thing is happenin__g to you what happened to Morris. Or maybe it was Unknown's doing, as a sick joke to be revealed after it was too late to stop it. Maybe it's just luck. Just dumb luck._

_Yeah, the whole 'being dead' thing makes me such a super fucking lucky guy._

… _I have something to say to you._

Oh aye? And that would be…

_Sorry._

… for?

_Just… everything. Everything that's happened recently, and everything before then too. Everybody's telling me that it wasn't my fault, that Unknown clouded my vision completely. That it could've been anybody. But I know different. You know different. You _taught_ me to know different._

Bah! I taught you how to catch a ball with a blindfold on. Nothing to do with stopping giant blobs of goo from turning you evil.

_You said that life was all about challenges, and dealing with them. There's no point to life if you don't beat everything it throws at you. And what did I do? I couldn't face Kazuya's death, and I blamed you, even though you were defending me, and I spent fifteen years trying to change it in vain. I let Unknown grow stronger because I allowed revenge and resentment become the greatest motivating factors of my life._

So, something terrible happens, you have the means to change it… and you think that trying it out made you evil?

_I couldn't face life's challenges, so I ran. I was a coward, and I tried to get what I wanted by force, not by earning it._

… let me remind you of something else I said. Not to you directly, but you took it to heart.

_Hmmm?_

"There's nothing more important than happiness. All other things are helpful. None are essential"

_And what wasn't true about that?_

The last part. I thought you needed nothing but happiness, but I was wrong. Dead wrong. When I finally did learn that, it was too late to save you from a terrible event that would flip anyone over the edge far quicker than it did you.

…_what?_

Pain. Sorrow. Torment. Call it what you will, we all need a bit of it, because it teaches us how to deal with our problems. It's part of who we are.

A pause. A very long pause.

… _thank you. I needed that._

Don't sweat it. And say thanks to Morris from me. Tell him that he helped me realise what I just told you.

_Um, Morris is…_

… is?

… _doesn't matter. I will tell him that._

Cheers, Jun.

With that, Spike faded away forever, a small smirk on his face. A smirk that Jun, for the first time in years, could match.

* * *

The police found a strange sight on the morning of the day Morris's funeral would take place. A bag, containing a fortune, was hanging from a lamppost, burnt completely with all the money inside it burnt too. They also found Johnny Showdown's fingerprints and his blood on the scene, and traced him to an airport where he hid himself on a plane. They worked out from the time he left which plane it would be, but it wouldn't be for another nine months until they found him again, in Avignon, France; he was at the time strangling a wealthy businessman to death, and had done the same to at least sixteen others, taking all the money he could from them.

They took Johnny to prison for account of the murder of three hundred and thirty one people, to which he declared himself guilty. He was gibbering like a maniac at this point; on the streets, he had been half starved to death, and his physical state had deteriorated even further. Clearly, the emotional blow of losing his money and health due to a venture he put his heart and soul into, and thought he'd get rewarded for, coupled with the fact that he couldn't possibly hide his identity and start over thanks to his distinct appearance and scars, was too much for him to handle, and he was later declared too mentally unstable and physically weak to pose any threat. He spent the rest of his surprisingly long life in a mental institution in Italy, and grew a fondness for gardening.

* * *

"**Morris…"**

"**... wake up…"**

"… **I don't think he'll pull through…"**

"… **doesn't look too good…"**

"**Morris, no!"**

"**Kazama-Chan… I'm afraid he's gone…"**

"**Morris!"**

"**MORRIS!"**

"_Morris, wake up!" Came a quite direct bark, to which Morris obeyed quite nervously. The brown chair rocked heavily from the motion of Morris jumping slightly out of the seated position, leather and velvet inter-woven to maximise comfort. He landed back and slid his hand over his eyes, rubbing the sleep out._

"_What is it, ma'am?" He slurred, turning his head to observe the room, a huge circular platform, the blood carpet much unlike the black night. He then remembered what he had seen, and turned back around. Asuka stood slightly over him, her eyes beaming brilliantly, the smile she wore one of a joy unseen even by gods. Her chestnut hair floated through the air, dancing and spiralling like leaves. She had cut it a few days ago, Morris supposed, the hair just short of her neck. Her skin seemed to shine just as much as her smile, with lips that parted slightly, invitingly. However, Morris' attention was attracted to where it usually resided. "Knockers!" He shouted quite gleefully, and it was not an unwarranted cry, in fact Asuka had planned on it. She did wear a smile, though little else, as her breasts remained completely unsheathed and her hands were occupied adjusting the blue panties that clutched at her hips. Morris was astonished, before looking up to her like a Dickensian orphan child with an empty bowl. She giggled slightly at his wordless pleading._

"_I'm not dressed like this because it's comfy." She said, stretching her hands around his neck, interlocking the fingers behind his head. Her abdomen slid easily over his, feeling a lump that caused Morris to whimper in restraint. Her knees balanced on either side of the chair as she joined her lips with his, embracing him fully. It took a minute for her to summon the willpower to part, only an inch from his face. "I was so worried about you, Morris." Morris smirked._

"_What for?" He said. He raised his hand slightly as her own slid from behind his neck to his chest, unbuttoning his shirt. His fingers moved at incredible speed but to no destination, twirling and twisting as his palm made its slow journey towards her left breast._

"_Johnny." She whispered, wincing at mention of the name. "Though it paid off. You won, remember? You're rich. Remember any of it?" Her hands lowered themselves, scanning his incredibly scarred and bony torso. Morris's hands had dropped and his face was rattled with confusion._

"_Not really, no." He told her, his mind leaving the room. Asuka sighed. "I mean, how did I survive? And what about Jun, or Jin for that matter, and…" He noticed that his right hand was once again level with her bust, held by her own with a soft grip to the wrist. "Oh…" He smiled lecherously._

"_Let's not talk about that." Asuka said, releasing his hand and allowing it to grab and lightly squeeze, her nipples hard with desire. She sighed at his touch. "Just us two now. Nothing else." Morris reached his lips and to her neck, kissing it lightly, as her hands got lower and lower, tugging at his fly. A knocking at the door interrupted the two, causing Morris to snarl angrily._

"_GO AWAY!" He shouted._

"_But sir, the president's being attacked by robo-ninjas, and he needs your help!" Came a voice. Morris and Asuka sighed in disappointment._

"_Duty calls." Asuka remarked._

"_Yeah, but I'll bring you with me." He stood up, letting Asuka get off. He then swept her off her feet, holding onto her as if she were a bride. "We'll finish this in the Oval Office." Asuka smiled, kissing him again._

"_Will you want your private rocket prepared, Morris?" She said, reaching for the phone._

"_Nonsense! I'll fly." With that, Morris took off, smashing the glass window as he left. The clouds sped past him and Asuka, the two looking to the future._

"_Morris…" Asuka began, looking to Morris with her brown eyes. "- I've got an idea I want to try." With that, she dropped slightly so she was standing on Morris's feet as the two flew together, reaching once again for his waist. Morris closed his eyes in anticipation._

"_Never done this before…" He remarked, _before opening his eyes; in the dark, fully clothed and, most annoyingly, alone. He let the disappointment and fury sink in a small moment, before the red mist descended.

"FFFFFFF-FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" He began to kick and bawl like a child, stamping his fists on the wooden floor. He pulled his head up involuntary, and got a shock, smacking it against an unseen wall.

"Ow!" He clutched his head in pain as it rattled. "That's one fucking headache…" Then he felt a tear escape as he realised what had happened, and he smiled. "I'M ALIVE!" He shouted to nobody.

"OF COURSE!" His brain worked faster than his mouth did. "Asuka's fire! When it hit me during the fight, it must have nullified Johnny's relaxant!" He scanned his chest, before finding a heartbeat. A quiet and weak thud-dump thump thud-dump confirmed his suspicions. He could almost hear his heart saying words _'Yes, you're alive, Morris. Don't waste this.'_

"I'M ALIVE! I'M AHH…" He had thrown his hands upwards, only to have them blocked two inches from his face. He then noticed fully that it was completely dark. "… what the fuck?" He pressed his ear against this unseen obstacle, before hearing Asuka's voice.

"… **he was… I'm sorry, I… I don't know what to say…" **Came the Japanese words, choking repeatedly.

"OH FUCK!" Morris suddenly screamed. "YOU BASTARDS! GET ME OUT OF THIS COFFIN, YOU STUPID FUCKTARDS!" He started slamming his hands desperately on the wood, hoping in vain that somebody would hear him.

"HEY! HEY! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME? IF THIS IS YOUR IDEA OF A JOKE THEN I WILL PERSONALLY KILL EVERY SINGLE LAST ONE OF YOU, YOU COCK MUNCHING," He punched the wood with his right fist.

"- PISS DRINKING," He punched it with his left.

"- CUM SWILLING," Right.

"- SHIT EATING," Left.

"- CUNT NIBBLING," Right.

"- BALL RAKING," Left.

"- NIPPLE GRINDING," Right.

"- GIBBLE CRANING," He burst through the wood with his next punch. The wood rocketed up then came back down, the coffin's lid shattered and landing on top of him as splinters rained down on his skull. "ARRGH MY FUCKING EYES!" He clutched his eyes as he scrambled within the coffin, kicking his legs desperately. He opened his eyes, and his eyebrows rose. _Why is it still black?_

_**VWOOOOOSH!**_

He curled into a ball, screaming as he did, the jet flame only just missing his toes. He looked to the blue torch.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS A BUDDIST NATION DOING FUCKING CREMATING ME?" He looked to the opposite direction of the flame, the wooden panel pressing on his head. He pulled back his fist, this time smashing through with a single punch. He scrambled out, only to immediately regret it. The walls were still hot, burning Morris to the touch. "AAARRRGGGHHH I HATE THIS I HATE THIS I HATE THIS!"

The flame burnt closer. The flame came closer still.

* * *

The morning sun turned the sky yellow and the clouds pink in a glaring haze of colour. A direct contrast to the clothes worn by the two young women who stood by a small headstone, observing it with solemn acknowledgement. Asuka expected a lot less people to come; Morris was never likable on first impressions, but she was surprised to see the majority of tournament fighters at the funeral; even people who outright detested Morris such as King, Julia and Christie had come. It was odd; most of them hadn't even spoke to Morris, yet they came. They all left quickly though, with other things to do, and now only she and Xiaoyu remained.

Xiaoyu shuffled uncomfortably. They both wore the same attire; black, sleeveless dresses that her friend Miharu provided, though she only guessed at Asuka's size, meaning that it was a bit short of her knees, but Xiaoyu decided not to mention it. Besides, considering that most of Morris's thoughts were formed strictly around his libido, she jokingly supposed that it was appropriate. She didn't voice this aloud for fear of offending Asuka, and decided to say what she had been saying over and over again for six days.

"Asuka, I'm so sorry… is there anything I can do?"

"Yeah." She answered Xiaoyu immediately, though not impolitely. "I need you to tell me this isn't real." Asuka's chestnut hair breezed slightly as she observed the headstone that quite literally put the fact into stone; Morris Wellington was dead.

_Morris Wellington_

_Now among Orion, Virgo and the Hydra_

"I remembered that he liked stars." Asuka explained. "He sat by the window and counted them once, and many a time. He named too many to mention. He even knew that we called the Hydra 'Nuriko'… he never spoke a word of Japanese, but he knew that." She drifted into silence, reminded of him sitting at nights, his finger on the window drawing the shapes to himself. Not something she expected from him, but there it was.

"He would've loved it." Xiaoyu said. She looked to Asuka. Her eyes were reddened and her skin had tracks of darkness were tears had made their slow journey to the floor. She smiled slightly, however.

"He would have." She finally said. She felt strange. She remembered when her father had lost Jun, and for a few days it didn't sink in, then he fell into depression for a long time. It seemed the opposite for her. The pain was immediate, and it was the only thing she could process; she would cry herself through nights in-between bouts of drowsy pain and wide awake screaming fits, she would be in public and suddenly need to find somewhere to despair in private, all this pain - and already it had past. Maybe all the sadness was pent up and lost quickly. Maybe not. It was here, shook Asuka to her core, and left. Somewhat like Morris's brief and eventful window into her life, she supposed. Here just short of a month ago, and then he was gone. Yet she felt as if she had known him forever, they had spent so much time together. They had exchanged stories, fought for each other, even made love, things that many romantic couples take months on end to do, all done in a happy blur; now no more than memories; a flying leaf caught in a gentle breeze now lost in a blizzard. Happy memories with a stinging end that made her wonder if it was all worth it.

"Asuka?"

"Sorry, Xiaoyu." She said, realising that she had been staring off into space. A smile crept onto her face as she thought a little longer about Morris. "I'm just thinking about him. About how much I loved him. Wondering whether I should be sad he's gone, or happy that he was here."

"Can you not do both?" Came the reply. Asuka laughed lightly.

"Do you mind if I be alone for a short time?" She asked. Her Chinese friend shook her head, and walked away. Asuka kept rolling the same thoughts over in her head, over and over. Happy he was here, sad he's gone.

"This is the second time I've seen his grave." Asuka's head wheeled around to observe the owner of the monotone snipe. The man in the hoodie looked like bad news, and she clenched her fists.

"I don't know who you are, but leave." She said. "I am not in the fucking mood." The man in the hoodie looked to her at last, and she was stunned by just how dead and devoid of emotion he was.

"You do know me. I doubt Morris Wellington ever used my name, but I'm sure he's told you of the events which have now culminated into his untimely and unfortunate death." The comments and the cold way they were addressed made Asuka's blood boil. She clenched her fists and began to walk over to him.

"I don't give a fuck who you are!" She barked, throwing a punch very suddenly and sending the man to the ground, drawing blood from his lip. "JUST LEAVE!"

"I'm afraid that won't be possible…" Came the man's monotone once more, if a little slowed as he wiped his bleeding lip. Asuka was amazed at his nerve. He didn't even flinch when the punch hit, and now he didn't seem surprised at all. "- there is business to attend to." Asuka raised her fist again.

"You don't get a fucking point, do you?"

"There's a sniper in the crematorium aiming his sights at your Chinese friend." Came the monotone that halted Asuka's fist. She snarled slightly. "If you hit me again, Ling Xiaoyu will be hastily killed." Suddenly, it came to her. Asuka remembered a name being dropped, and her anger became even more dangerous and volatile.

"Stamford…" She growled, prompting Craig to nod silently. "- are you going to have me killed?"

"If I was…" He answered. "- I wouldn't be here, and neither would you." He pointed to the crematorium. "We must go somewhere more discreet, Asuka Kazama, and then we can discuss my true purpose for coming here."

The two stepped across the graveyard, a short trip to the edge of the building furthest from the city centre. Asuka's attention was focused entirely on the five new men she met; all in black suits as if they were paying their respects to a dead friend, supposedly to disguise their true purpose, but it was the one in the wheelchair who caught Asuka's attention. He almost reminded her of what Johnny looked like last she saw him, all scars and no skin, and his eyes stared at her like a hawk. She suddenly saw that he was licking his lips, and his eyes now held a freakish lust.

"Johnny offered you to me in exchange for resources." The wheel-chaired man croaked desperately.

"I think we needn't frighten the young woman, Kenta." Craig said in that dead monotone, before looking to Asuka. "I will cut this short. I want your prize money." The woman he addressed raised an eyebrow.

"Pardon?" She asked. Craig kept up the stare.

"The prize money for the tournament." He said. "Now."

Craig expected a rebuttal, or a plea, or a denial. He didn't expect Asuka to start laughing. Her eyes showed nothing but contempt, and it was clear she was faking it, but he was still irritated by her absolute nerve.

"Something tells me that you've not seen Heihachi Mishima before, otherwise you'd already know just how much he gave me." She explained. "Even if I wanted to give you any money, I have none to give." Her glare clashed with Craig's for a silent moment.

"Jin Kazama has given himself to a team of scientists to be sure that the Devil Gene is gone, and has announced that once he is sure he is safe, he will give himself over to the appropriate authorities. Kazuya Mishima has gone missing, possibly for similar reasons. Jun Kazama has recently begun her pursuit for him. As for Ling Xiaoyu, Heihachi said that she wouldn't receive any money because Morris technically won, though he is dead. Logic dictates that the money was passed onto his nearest and dearest, which would be you."

"Well, Heihachi isn't one for giving people compensation." Asuka said. "He's never liked Kazamas, by extension me, so he gave me nothing."

"I was offered your body." Came Kenta's weak croak.

"Kenta, if you openly state your bizarre attractions to her, she won't be giving me, therefore you, any money, will she? The rest of the Yakuza hate you as it is, no need to make them angrier by depriving them of money, is there?" Craig irritably reminded him, before turning back to Asuka. "Now, stop fooling around. Money."

"Got none."

"I'm sure you find this funny, but I don't." Craig's monotone started to crack. "I want the money that Morris, and now you owe me."

"You're beautiful." Kenta said. Craig didn't even bother to tell Kenta to be silent, so irritated by Asuka's stubbornness he was.

"I want that money!"

"I don't have it!" Came the same reply, which made Craig bite his lip.

"My gang could simply kill you and take the money from your account by force! I am doing you a favour so I don't leave any trace, but I will if I must!"

"YOU WON'T GAIN ANYTHING!" Asuka shouted.

"More beautiful than in the photograph…" Came Kenta's whimper as he pushed himself forward, ignored by the other two.

"I HAVEN'T GOT ANY MONEY TO GIVE YOU SO PISS OFF!"

"Stop stalling and tell me when and where to get MY money!" Craig barked more and more.

"DON'T YOU TAKE A HINT?"

"Tell me!"

"I DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY!"

"Miss Kazama, if I may…" Came another of Kenta's quiet and perverted statements, but he couldn't finish as Craig wheeled around in blind rage and struck him out of his wheelchair.

"WILL YOU BE SILENT FOR A SINGLE FUCKING MINUTE?" Even Asuka jumped slightly at the sheer volume, vemon and vehemence in the words that escaped Craig Stamford's roar. The other Yakuza stepped back, and Craig looked to them all, before turning back to Asuka. He closed his eyes and paused, breathing through his nose.

"Miss Kazama…" He finally said, calmer but still shaking with fury. "- I'm being kind to you by not having you killed or your family and friend's being killed, and this is the way you choose to repay me? Please, for the sake of everyone you care about, I want my mon…" He stopped, feeling a gun barrel pushing against the back of his head.

"Nobody speaks to me in that fashion." Kenta seethed, nodding to the Yakuza hitman furthest from him. "Check that nobody's around before I kill him." Asuka looked to the other Yakuza agents. One behind Craig, who reminded admirably calm, and two more approaching her, pistols aimed squarely at her. They stopped so that one was in front and one behind, but they got incredibly close indeed. She watched as Kenta wheeled around towards her.

"This is going to be a little odd for you, but I want to see you." He said shakily, and suddenly Asuka spotted something in the sky, looking up. "Fully. If you understand me." He heard his subordinate that he sent to watch for nearing people come back. A thumbs up. Nobody near. Kenta smiled lecherously, looking back to Asuka. "Kazama-chan, you are a beautiful person, and this dress only hides that beauty I wish to…" A pause. "- are you paying attention to me?"

She wasn't.

A blue curtain fluttered easily through the sky, flapping like a weakened bird, before hitting the ground and trailing along towards the rising sun. This journey was something that Asuka watched in unbelieving awe, and she felt her heart start to pound hard against her ribs. Her stomach did a somersault, her brain couldn't process the information. A smile began to creep onto her face, before her bliss was interrupted by a stray hand.

"HEY!" She wheeled around, throwing the hand that had plucked at the bottom of her dress away. Her answer was to have the gun pushed closer to her. She looked back to Kenta, who sneered.

"Kazama-chan, I demand subordination." He seethed. "I'll not mince words any longer. Your dress. Take it off." Asuka's eyes light up as she saw a chance to bring help to her.

"YOU HEAR THAT?" She shouted. "I'M STRIPPING! COME AND FIND ME!" Kenta snarled, before chuckling.

"I'm afraid nobody's here to hear your cries for help." He reminded her, but Asuka pierced him with a fiery sneer, that turned into a malicious and knowing smile that immediately made him wary. He pulled at a walkie-talkie that was strapped to his wheelchair, and placed it to his mouth.

"Do you see anybody coming?"

"No, Kenta-san." Came the sniper's reply. "My scope's firmly on Xiaoyu, but I've checked only a second ago. Nobody's coming from any angle, why'd you… wait, I hear something…" Suddenly a great clank-crank-bash, an incoherent shout, before the walkie talkie cut out.

"Come in!" Kenta shouted. "COME IN! COME…"

That's when Morris came smashing through the window above them.

Morris was looking for an exit, the promise of seeing Asuka naked fuelling his rush, when he saw a man sitting by the window. His eyes were drawn to the rifle, and he guessed that Asuka wasn't actually going to be naked in the near future. The sniper didn't quite see what was happening, was knocked out cold, and accidentally smashed his walkie talkie, unable to warn his friends of the impending danger that was now flying above them.

"Oh fucking hell!" Morris didn't make a perfect landing, smacking straight onto his face as he hit the ground. All stared at him for a moment, then Asuka decided to use the window of opportunity to elbow the man behind her. She then brought her fist forward, hitting the man in front. The man who held Craig pushed him away, aiming his pistol at her.

"Nope." Came a voice, and Morris's knee shuddered into him, shattering the bone instantly, before an elbow was planted straight into his temple, causing his world to fade into black. Morris immediately turned, kicked the fourth and final man in the stomach, before bringing his knee into his face. Then his eyes slowly turned to Kenta, who gulped.

"I see." He murmured, pushing at his wheels, moving backwards slowly. "I'll leave you alone and we'll never…" He bumped slowly into Asuka, who stood behind him, glowering at him as he turned his head. "- mention… this… again?" The answer was a knuckle to his temple, and the left wheel of his chair being broken off.

"Perverted freak." She snarled. She looked to Morris, who gawped at her. "What? You just knocked out two guys, why are you staring at me like…"

"That dress suits you perfectly." He said, before suddenly planting an open palm straight onto her breasts. She batted it away instantly, before finally gazing slowly at him, and before long she had pulled him into a hug.

"I'm so glad you're alive." She whispered in his ear. "It's been hell without you."

"You're glad?" Morris barked. "How'd you think I feel? I nearly fucking died! Three times! WITHIN A HALF HOUR!" He wrapped his arms around her desperately. "I now conclude that I am a god." Asuka smiled.

"Whatever, Morris, but …" She suddenly growled halfway through her sentence. Morris sighed.

"Somebody's pointing a gun at me."

"Only so you don't run away." Came Craig's answer. The voice rattled Morris to the core and he wheeled around. All three were silent what seemed to be a lifetime. The wind visibly picked up. Morris glared at Craig, who kept his dead monotone gaze firmly on him. Morris felt a burning fire in his chest. Here was the man who ordered the mass murder of every Wellington on the planet, and everyone who had associated with them. No one had been spared; siblings, parents, friends, even children. Johnny may have been the killer, but if it wasn't for Craig, he'd still have a family.

"I think all three of us would benefit…" Craig finally began. "- if you, Morris, were to remain 'dead' as it were." He paused, raising his gun and his free hand as a symbol of peace.

"My proposal is this; you are a firm enemy of the rest of Stamfords, who are far less forgiving than I, but I'm still their leader, and they need not know that you are alive and well. Your girlfriend has now made an enemy with the Yakuza, but I can protect both her and her family and friends. You owe me money, and you have made a spectacularly large list of enemies. Johnny was not the only man after your family. Heihachi is most likely going to hold another tournament in another year…"

"I can fill in the blanks." Morris snarled, interrupting Craig. "You want me to win a ton of money for you." Craig didn't bother react.

"Quite so." He said. "Two of you are more likely to achieve a common goal than one alone, and you could ask others to aid you in this goal. You may do as you please once you win and we shall never meet again." Asuka bit her lip.

"You've got some fucking nerve!" She barked. "You first have his family killed, and now you demand that he gives you a load of money! The Yakuza hated Kenta; you said so yourself, so they won't come after or my friends!" Craig blinked as Morris nodded.

"What she said." He said. "I owe you nothing." Craig sighed.

"All right." He said, before throwing his pistol to Morris, to the amazement of the two looking at him. "You clearly hate my guts, so point that gun at me and fire." Morris remained still, looking at the pistol that was on the floor at his feet. "But first, allow me to tell you why I had your family killed." He paused, breathing through his nose.

"Your mother blew up the flat she led the hit-squad following her to. I lost my friends. I lost my father and one of my brothers." Morris looked into the dead eyes as the monotone continued.

"Then, less than two days later, my then-girlfriend was killed by a ten year child!" Craig suddenly shouted, and Morris gulped. He looked to Asuka, who looked back. They knew who that child was. The two saw Craig was now shaking.

"WOULD YOU HAVE DONE ANYTHING DIFFERENT? _DID_ YOU DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT?" All the composure gone, Craig suddenly started to shed tears, as he shook uncontrollably. Morris sighed slightly.

"No, I didn't." He said, picking up the gun. Asuka gasped silently. "But that isn't who I am anymore." He threw the pistol back to the crying Stamford, and Asuka breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll give you an answer later. I'm guessing you'll find me." Craig watched the two leave, and gritted his teeth, but knew that he hadn't quite lost. Neither of them had.

Asuka looked to Morris as they walked away, back in the direction of his own grave. The stern expression didn't last long, and he looked back at her. "What are you staring at? Besides my incredible sexy body and drop-dead gorgeous face?"

"Morris…" She began. "- thanks for not killing him. I didn't think you would, but…" She stopped suddenly. "Morris, if you don't stop doing that, I'm breaking up with you."

"But it's a nice arse!" He shouted defensively. She turned around, raising an eyebrow. "It's very grabbable!"

"That's not even a word, and that's not the point." She said. "And don't think about touching my breasts!" She hit the approaching hands away, but she still smiled.

"BUT THAT'S ALL I THINK ABOUT!" He whined. "I MEAN, HAVEN'T YOU EVER BEEN DESPERATE TO GRAB ANOTHER PERSON'S BODY?" Asuka tried to shake her head, but instead just fell on the floor laughing. "Asuka, I can totally see your panties from this angle!"

"So fucking what?" Asuka finally shouted back, pretending to be seriously, before shaking her head. "No."

"Yeah."

"No!"

"Why not? I'm broke again and I need cheering up."

"I don't know if you've noticed, but we are in a fucking GRAVEYARD!" She shouted. "AND I'VE HAD A LOT OF STRESS!" Morris got onto his knees. "I'VE BEEN ATTACKED BY THUGS! I'VE BEEN TO YOUR FUNERAL, THEN YOU JUST SHOW UP AND…" She decided there was no point carrying on, in part because Morris kissed her and the words she had formed in her head were lost as his hand placed itself on her leg and worked its way up her body. They parted lips as her hands leapt to his shirt buttons and her forehead pushed against his.

"Morris Wellington." She said. "You are absolutely intolerable. And you can't make a romantic situation for your life."

"Romantic enough to pull you, though." Came the smug reply. "Because let's face it; I'm fucking awesome."

* * *

**Author's note: Ah yes. The ultimate cop-out ending. And I felt we had to end this on a funny note. Also, for those of you observing this, I left a slightly open ending for Morris. That was in fact inspired by the game itself. Imagine your own ending to how he turns out. In my opinion, he probably enters the next tournament and nearly wins but gets blindingly drunk and is too hung-over to attend the final. Sounds typical enough, no?**

**Not a great amount of author's note (too late) because I'm tired after writing all this, and I'm sure you're tired of reading so I'll leave you with a reminder that my sequel to Stockholm Syndrome will be out soon, and that I might go back to one-shots for a small while for practice's sake, once I think of ideas. I've also edited some lines in this one here and there, but I've already posted these updates, so there we are.**

**Catch you on the flip side, homies.**


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